A Stranger Amongst Them
by lfg
Summary: Ginny is injured playing Quidditch, and is rejected by the Auror Academy, but she finds a way to contribute.
1. Chapter 1

A Stranger Amongst Them

All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended. No money is earned by this work.

Chapter one A Bludger and a Ring

Ginny Weasley was upset, mad, left out, nothing to do. Her confidence was shaken. Her sense of self was at rock bottom. She just did not know what to do next. She had Harry in her life, such as it was. He loved her and she loved him. She has shared a house with Harry since she graduated, much to her mother's chagrin. They had talked of marriage, but as yet had not made any definite plans. It's too soon, she told herself. I need a life for myself first, then and only then can I share my life with Harry. She was miserable.

When she graduated from Hogwarts, she thought that her life was going to be great. She had a wonderful family. She had a terrific and faithful boyfriend in Harry. She had been one of the best Quidditch chasers to captain the Hogwart's team in many years. So good in fact that she was given a tryout for her favorite team, the Holyhead Harpies. Although her mother didn't approve, Harry supported her one hundred percent and encouraged her to give it a try. She easily made the team.

But then reality struck. On her first full day of practice as a paid member of the team, she was struck in the head by an errant Bludger. A week later, she awoke in a bed at St. Mungo's Hospital. The prognosis was not good. The Healers told her that she had suffered a severe concussion, and it would be weeks before she was completely recovered. But that was not the bad news. They also informed her that she had suffered some eye damage, which was obvious to Ginny. She was having trouble focusing, and was experiencing tunnel vision. They told her that they did not have the expertise to properly diagnose or treat such eye injuries, and recommended that she see an eye specialist in London.

Two weeks later, Harry and her mother accompanied Ginny to the London Ophthalmology Centre on Queen Anne Street in London. Her medical history had been forwarded to them by St. Mungo's Healers. The receptionist handed Ginny a stack of papers to fill out, including the appropriate financial forms. Fortunately, the Holyhead Harpies would be covering all costs. Doctor Eisenfeld was her assigned physician. After two hours of tests, Dr. Eisenfeld told her that she needed eye surgery to correct a condition called Retinal Detachment. Seeing the blank looks on all their faces, the doctor took the time to carefully explain everything to them in laymen's terms. He explained that the condition can be corrected by laser surgery, and scheduled her for admission in one week.

The surgery was successful, for which she was most thankful, but something was still bothering her. She needed a life, something other than the mundane affairs of everyday existence. She had been told to abstain from any sexual activities for two weeks. Yeah, right, she thought. Their abstinence lasted about four days before they couldn't take it any more, and ravished each other for hours. That evening they laid in bed holding each other in post coital bliss. Ginny thought that she should take this opportunity to broach Harry about a subject that they had been avoiding for a longtime.

"Harry," she said after a few deep breaths. "Harry, I think that I would like to become an Auror."

This startled him. They had long ago talked about it as something she might do after her Quidditch days were over. Five, maybe six years down the road. And after they were married. He did not anticipate this at this time.

"Do you think your ready to take on something as strenuous Auror training?" Harry responded.

"It's just something I have been thinking about Harry. My Quidditch flying days are over. That has been hard for me to adjust to. I need something in my life Harry, and I was hoping that you would support me in this."

Harry thought for a minute, then replied, "Gin, you know that I will support you with anything you want to do, including this. If it's what you want, then yes, I support you completely."

Ginny turned to him and drew him into a ferocious hug. "I love you Harry. I know that you will always support me in anything. Next question. We haven't talked about this in a long time, and I am almost reluctant to bring it up now."

"Wait a minute Gin, I forgot something." Harry jumped out of bed and ran into the study, returning quickly and holding something behind his back. "I've been waiting for an appropriate time to do this Gin, but with your injuries and everything that's been going on, it has slipped my mind."

Harry took her hands in his, and looking lovingly at her he forced out the words, "I love you my darling, with all my heart and soul. Will you marry me?"

He opened the small box he had been holding behind his back and took out an extraordinary diamond ring. He waited for her answer.

The expression on Ginny's face was worth a million words. With an ear-to-ear smile she let out a scream peppered with yeses and threw herself at him, knocking him across the bed. "Yes, Yes, Yes, a thousand times YES!" she exclaimed.

Harry struggled to find her hand, then placed the ring on her finger. "I love you Gin. I want to spend the rest of my life with you. I want you to have our babies. I want us to watch them grow up. I want to grow old with you, Gin."

"Oh Harry, I'm so happy. I love you so much. Thank you my love, thank you."

The rest of the evening was purely sensual, sexual, rivetingly pleasurable. They finally fell asleep in each others arms.

They slept peacefully for several hours, Ginny wakening only to use the loo. She crept back onto the bed and spooned with Harry. He stirred sensing her body pressed against his back. "MMMMM," he moaned. "It feels so good to have you next to me like this. Please tell me you will always hold me like this Gin, even when your mad or upset with me. I couldn't live without you next to me like this."

"Promise me the same, my love, and I will always be here for you."

Harry rolled over and drew her close to his body, relishing the feeling of naked skin against skin. Their hands began to explore each others bodies, always finding new and exciting places that would draw sighs of pleasure from the other. They made love again, slowly, carefully, drawing out the sensuous responses that drove them to find their common ground of coital bliss. Their orgasms were really anticlimactic. It was everything leading up to the explosive finale that drove their love. As they held each other as if their bodies were one, Ginny looked at her engagement ring, kissed it, and silently thanked the gods for her gift of Harry's love for her.

End chapter one


	2. Chapter 2

A Stranger Amongst Them

See disclaimer in chapter one.

Chapter two To be or not to be an Auror

The following Monday, Ginny reported to the Ministries Office of Admissions to apply for acceptance into their Auror training program. After two hours of filling out forms and taking written tests, She was ready for the practical exams. Two Auror officials tested her on reaction times, stressful situations, her wand abilities, and the spells she knew. They were quite impressed. They were even more impressed when she demonstrated her wordless and wandless spell casting abilities. She was quite encouraged by their reactions to her abilities. This just might work out ok she thought.

After showering in the girls Auror locker room, She was called to the medics treatment centre for her physical. They put her through all types of physical tests and blood tests. A Healer poked and prodded every part of her body, even places she didn't know she had. The Healer then passed his wand over all parts of her body many times. Each time his wand would glow a different color, or shoot out colored sparks. Two hours later, they handed her some papers, telling her to study them and come back tomorrow for their results and evaluation. She was excitedly encouraged.

That evening she was in a euphoric mood, and talked to Harry about everything they did to her. She was hyper and flying high, so much so that she had trouble calming down enough to sleep. Harry on the other hand couldn't stay awake, and fell asleep midway through Ginny's description of her physical. She hardly noticed.

The next day, Ginny reported to the Auror training office. Shortly, the director of training introduced himself and brought her into his private office. "Please have a seat Miss Weasley. I'll get right to the point. We were very impressed with your abilities, especially your spell and wand work. However," he paused and looked her disappointedly. "We found that your previous eye injuries have left you with a problem. Your peripheral vision on your left side is not up to acceptable standards. We noticed that when you were approached from the left your reflexes were slow to react, leaving you vulnerable to unseen attack. This would be deadly under combat conditions, not only for you, but also for your partner. So, unfortunately, we can not accept you into the program. We are very sorry, Miss Weasley, but it is for your own safety and the safety of others."

Ginny was crushed. Fighting back the tears, she stood and thanked the director for his forthrightness. She shook his hand and fled to find the nearest ladies room. There she collapsed in a torrent of tears. Her whole body shook. She couldn't believe it. "Why?"

she cried out. "Why can't I ever have any luck? Why does this keep happening to me? What am I supposed to do now?" Ginny remained in the wash room for what seemed an eternity. Forcing herself to stand, she washed the tears away and tried to regain her composure. "I have to get home." she said to the mirror." She found her way to the atrium and stepped into the floo. Crashing onto the floor of their home, she again erupted in an uncontrollable burst of tears. Suddenly she felt strong arms holding her. It was Harry.

"Harry, what are you doing here? You should be at work."

"Hi, love. The director told me the whole story. I looked for you everywhere, but couldn't find you. So I decided to wait for you here. I'm so sorry, Gin. I know that you really wanted this. I'm so sorry. I talked to the director to see if there was anything we could do. But he was adamant. He said that it was for your own safety. I'm so sorry Gin."

Ginny straightened up and brushed back the tears. "I know love. It just hit me hard. I should have known. I've known for some time that I have a vision problem in my left eye. I thought it would go away, but it didn't. I should have know better. I should never have tried."

Ginny wiped her face again, and took a deep breath. "They are right of course. I know that. Just give me a little time, and I will accept it."

They held each other there on the floor for a long time. Harry whispering soothing thoughts and stroked her hair. "I have to get back Gin, but I'll try to get home early. Why don't we go out to eat tonight. There is a new muggle restaurant in London I think you will like. How about it. Shall we?"

Ginny hugged him very close now, almost as if she was afraid to let him go. "Harry, I love you so much. I'm such a baby. I'm sorry to be like this. It's just that I had it all planed out. We would be working together, and I could share the experience with you. Now I'm just a stay-at-home little girl sitting here waiting for my lover to come home to me."

'Don't despair Gin. We, you, will find something, I'm sure. Why don't you relax for the rest of the day, and we'll do the restaurant thing as soon as I get home. Will you be ok for a few hours?"

"Yeah, I guess so. I think so. I'll take a nice long shower and then a nap. I'll be ok Harry, really. I know you have to get to work. Be home soon love, I'll be hungry. Better call that restaurant and tell them to stock up, ok."

"Right Gin. Sorry I have to get back." He kissed her passionately and said goodbye, disappearing into the floo.

Ginny took her shower and rapped only in a towel she walked to the front room and turned on the telly. Should be a move or something to watch before I fall asleep, she thought. She watched the last half of a sappy love story, falling asleep before it ended. A short time later she was awakened by the roar of a crowd. Confused, she sat bolt upright looked around for the source of the roar. Stupid me, she thought, it's only the telly. She settled back down, her eyes half heartedly focused on the scene in front of her.

The movie was called Ivanhoe, a medieval flick about Knights and ladies in waiting and lots of battles and sword fights. The scene she was watching had two Knights battling it out in an arena. Stereotypical good guy against the standard evil bad guy, the winner gets the girl. As the two combatants slugged it out, Ginny was about to shut it off when a lightning bolt flashed through her brain. She sat up and moved closer to the screen. She was mesmerized by what she saw. She sat on the edge of her seat and studied the two fighters very carefully, occasionally pausing the action, or rewinding and watching the same scene over again. "I can't believe it," she said out loud. She studied the action over and over again. Finally, she threw her hands in the air and let out a yell of joy. "That's it!" she cried out. "Their shields. They are defending themselves with their shields. In their left hands."

Ginny's revelation rocked her. Her brain was reeling. Her mind was talking to her. Why didn't I think of this before? she thought to herself. This opens a whole new set of possibilities. I need to make plans, research everything I can find about magical shields.

Just then Harry fire-called her. "Gin, would you mind if I invite Ron and Hermione to dine with us tonight? I thought that you would like some company."

"Yes Harry, that would be nice."

"Thanks Gin. See you about six."

Wow! she thought. Talk about coincidence. Hermione was on her mind the minute she thought about doing research. She made a mental note to talk to Hermione tonight.

End chapter two.


	3. Chapter 3

A Stranger Amongst Them

See disclaimer in chapter one.

Chapter three The Seirenes Across The Pond.

Harry literally fell out of the floo at promptly six o'clock. Ginny was waiting and helped him to his feet. "How many years is it going to take before you learn to land without hurting yourself Harry?" she greeted him sarcastically but with a smile.

"And hello to you Gin," Harry exclaimed as he brushed himself off. They kissed and hugged and greeted each other as lovers do. "You seem to be in a much better mood now, Gin. Everything ok?"

"Yea, I guess so. I took a shower and watched the telly a bit before I fell asleep. I'm ok now. I think I have accepted things, and I convinced myself that I am the luckiest girl alive to have such a wonderful and understanding man who loves me unquestionably.

So where are we going to eat tonight, love?"

"I thought that we would try something new tonight. There is a newly opened seafood restaurant in London called 'Seirens Across The Pond'. Each night they have a specialty on their menu, usually something from Canada or America. Thus the reference to the pond. Tonight their specialty is Lobster."

"What's that Harry. I never heard of Lobster before."

"I don't know. Some kind of fish or seafood or something. I was told that it's really delicious, so I thought we'd give it a try. Is that ok with you?"

"Sure, why not. I'm up for a new experience."

"Good. Lets change, muggle casual will be ok. We're meeting Ron and Hermione at the Leaky at about seven, then we'll take a cab to the restaurant."

They entered the Leaky and spotted Ron. "Hi Ron, Hermione," Ginny greeted." How have you been?"

"Just fine. And yourself?" they returned.

"Ok, I guess. You heard about my disastrous tryout for the Aurors?"

"Yea, we heard," said Ron. "Don't take it to heart Gin. Better than you have been rejected before."

"Well, I don't want to dwell on it. Why don't we walk to the restaurant. Is that ok Harry?"

"If you guys don't mind. It's about a twenty minute walk," replied Harry. "That will give us some time to talk."

"So what is this restaurant all about, Harry? I've never heard of it."

"It's new, Hermione. Just opened a couple of weeks ago."

"What's it called again?" asked Ron.

"It's called 'Seirenes Across The Pond' Ron. It's some kind of seafood place. Very exclusive. We'll have to sneak you in."

"Ha. Ha. Very funny Harry. So what is this 'Seirenes' thing all about?"

"I really don't know Ron."

Hermione spoke out in her usual way. "Oh, really. Don't you two ever read. It's from Greek mythology."

"Hermione, You grew up in the muggle world. Your parents were very well off. I'm sure they sent you to a very exclusive private school before Hogwarts. So why don't you tell us about Seirenes?"

Hermione sighed her usual sigh when she was annoyed. "It's from a Greek epic poem called Odyssey by Homer. The Seirenes were sea nymphs that inhabited an island surrounded by many jagged rocks. Their bewitching song would attract passing ships, leading them to crash on the rocks, killing the men."

"Sounds delightful, Hermione. I can't wait to read it," joked Harry.

"Alright you two. So why this restaurant, Harry?"

"Well, tonight's special is all-you-can-eat Lobster. I thought it would be a treat for us."

"Sounds great Harry," said Ron. "Except none of us know what a Lobster is."

"Speak for your self Ron, chided Hermione."

"Oh well, I should have known you would know all about them, Hermione. So pray tell, what the bloody hell are they?"

Harry interrupted, "Never mind you two. We'll find out when we get there."

They walked in silence for the next few minutes, or at least partial silence. Ron was still mumbling under his breath about a certain know-it-all wife. Hermione eventually spoke up. "So Ginny, you've been sort of quite tonight. Everything ok?"

"Yea, I'm ok. Just still recovering from my Auror training rejection. I'll get over it."

"Ok, guys," Harry said pointing to the restaurant just ahead. "Were here."

He held the door for the girls and followed Ron to the desk to check in. Ginny whispered to him, "Harry, there's about twenty or more people waiting to get in. What do we do?"

Without answering, Harry stood in line while several couples in front of him were haggling with the attendant about the long waiting time. Meanwhile, Ron and Hermione were observing the welcoming ambiance of the restaurant. Ron spotted a large fish tank and called to Hermione.

"Mione, what are those ugly creatures in the water? They look like giant spiders."

Hermione laughed. "No Ron, those are the Lobsters we will be eating tonight."

"Bloody hell Mione, Those things are ugly. Look at those huge claws, they would tear us apart before we got a bite."

Hermione laughed again. "They cook them first Ron. You'll see."

Meanwhile, Harry and Ginny were next in line. "Harry Potter, reservations for four."

The attendant gave him a suspicious look and checked his reservations book. As he ran his finger down the list he suddenly stopped, shot a look at Harry, then frantically motioned to the maître d' who came running over. The attendant showed him the entry in the book which immediately elicited a huge smile on the man's face.

"Mister Potter, it is an honor to see you here in my restaurant tonight. Your table is waiting on the Admirals' deck. Please follow me."

"The Admirals' deck? What's going on Harry?"

"Tell you later Mione."

They were led to a large private room on the second floor of the restaurant that was decorated to look like a luxury cruise ship's dinning area. There were about ten tables set up, only three of them occupied. After they had taken their seats, a very stiff waiter with a very sour expression on his face approached. He spoke without even looking at them.

"Good evening ladies and gentlemen. My name is Andre. I am your personal waiter. It will be my pleasure to serve you this evening. My I bring you something to drink, or would you prefer to see our wine list."

They all look at each other and spontaneously burst into fits of laughter. "Andre, come over here," Harry jovially said.

Andre walked stiffly to Harry's side of the table and without changing his expression and scowled, "Yes sir, What may I do for you sir?"

"Andre, if that is really your name, my friends and I are here to have a pleasant meal and enjoy each other's company. You definitely put a damper on things with your stuffed shirt, sour faced attitude. That may work with some people, but not with us. We are here to have a good time. Now listen carefully at what I am about to say. Either you lose the attitude and act like the normal person that I know you are, or we are going to get up and leave. Now I don't think that's going to do much for your job security, is it?"

The waiter was taken aback by Harry's forthrightness. With a shocked expression on his face he stumbled to find the words that were not coming.

Harry looked at him with a smile on his face. "So what's your real name?" he asked.

"Ah, well, ah, Andy. Andy is my name."

"Ok Andy. Now that we understand each other, please call me Harry." He looked around at the others, three laughing faces looking back, and asked, "How about a round of fire-whiskey to start the evening?" They all agreed.

Turning back to Andy, Harry ordered a round of Jack Daniel's, double on the rocks. Andy nodded left.

"So Harry, What was that all about?" asked Ginny.

Harry laughed. "Well, Kingsley suggested this place to me. He told me that the food was great, but the waiters were stuffed shirts. So I just thought that I would make the mood a little more friendly."

"Well you certainly shook Andy up a bit," commented Ginny. "And why all this, the Admiral's deck? What's that all about?"

"I don't know Gin. Kingsley made the reservations for me. He said that the owner was a good friend of his."

Their waiter served the drinks and asked if they wanted menus. Harry looked around at the others and they all agreed to a salad and a seafood appetizer to start. Andy nodded in approval and left.

Harry raised glass and made a toast. "Best wishes to all, Ron, Mione, Ginny. Enjoy."

"Here, here," they all echoed.

Ron then raised his glass to toast Harry and Ginny. "Dear little sister, it is our pleasure to congratulate you on your engagement to my best friend, although I would question Harry's mental health status. We wish you both all the luck and prosperity in the world. Congrats to both of you."

Andy served the salads and placed a large plate of assorted seafoods in the center of the table. They all started eating and engaging in casual conversation when a large black man approached their table.

"Hello to all," he addressed them. "I'm the proprietor Ahmad Witherspoon. People call me Mad. That's my name, not a comment on my state of mind."

Harry stood and shook Ahmad's hand, introducing himself. "Pleasure to meet you sir. May I introduce my friends, Ron Weasley and his wife Hermione."

They both stood and exchanged pleasentries.

"And my fiancé Ginevra Weasley."

Ginny stood and shook the man's hand. "A pleasure to meet you sir," she said, glaring at Harry. "Please call me Ginny."

"The golden trio plus one," Ahmad said with a smile. "King has told me so much about you four. You are true heroes, all of you. I am a squib, but there are wizards in my family.

My niece, Taber Jernugan, was three years behind you, Miss Weasley. She was in Hufflepuff, so you probably didn't know her. But she knew who you were. She has told me about all the things you did two years ago. How you stood up to those Death Eaters, all the younger students you protected. I know what all of you did for both our worlds, and I am proud to meet all of you."

"Thank you sir," Harry said. "It's an honor to meet you also."

"If there is anything I can do for you, don't hesitate to ask."

"There is one thing," said Harry. "Tell Andy to lighten up a bit."

Ahmad laughed. "Look around Harry. Up here, most of our clientele are rich business men. They expect that attitude from their servants. I'll tell Andy to go easy on you. Again, it's an honor to have meet you all, and have a pleasant meal. Good day to you."

"Well, that was interesting," spoke Ron. "King certainly has interesting friends."

They went back to enjoying their food as Andy approached. "Will you all be having our Lobster special this evening."

"Yes," responded Harry. "Any time your ready."

Within minutes, Andy returned with extra plates and small cups of different culinary accoutrements, and provided each with what looked like instruments of torture. He placed a bib around each of them, tying it behind their necks.

"What's this all about," asked Ron.

"Eating Lobster can be a bit messy," answered Andy.

Hermione laughed. "You'll find out Ron," she said.

Shortly after, Andy returned with large plates of steaming red Lobsters.

"Wow!" proclaimed Ginny. "They look awesome. What do we do with them?"

"Why are they red," asked Ron. "They didn't look like this in the tank."

"They have been cooked," answered Hermione sarcastically. "They turn red when cooked."

Ron reached over and picking up one of the Lobsters asked, "So how do we eat them."

"Break off one of the claws and,"

Before Hermione finished her explination, Ron broke off one of the claws and took a bite. "Ouch!" he yelled. "Bloody hell, it's hard as a rock."

Hermione laughed. "Ron, if you would listen for a change instead of blindly forging ahead, you have to break open the shell and remove the meat inside." She took the claw from him and demonstrated.

"Oh yea, I get it," said Harry. "So what do we do once we get the meat out?"

"Well, you can eat it directly, or dip it first in one of the sauces in those little cups." She pointed to a yellow liquid saying, "That's what I prefer. It's just melted butter. I suggest you all try different types." She dipped the claw meat into the butter and placed it into her mouth. "MMMMMMMMMM!, that's delicious."

They all turned to the task of cracking open the claws. Ron and Harry got it right away. Hermione had the right idea, but was having trouble cracking the thick claw shell. Ron helped. Ginny however was ready to use her wand, or order a steak instead. Harry patiently guided her through the process, but found it easier to crack the shells for her, then letting her extract the meat. Ginny gave Hermione a knowing smile. What are boyfriends for she though.

When they had finished with the claws, which they all agreed were scrumptious, Hermione called their attention to the remaining carcass. She showed them how to break the tail away and split it open to harvest the tail meat. Again the boys caught on quickly, but Ginny needed help, which of course Harry happily provided.

As Ron split the tail from his Lobster, he noticed a bright green substance oozing from the end of the tail. "Oh, yuck. What the bloody hell is that disgusting stuff?"

"That's what's left of the Lobster's liver, Ron. It's edible and quite tasty," replied Hermione.

"No way, Mione," said Ron, sticking out his tongue in a disgusting manor.

"My Lobster is full of some red stuff," said Ginny in an equally disgusting manor.

Hermione laughed. "Gin, you have a female lobster. The red stuff is roe, the Lobster's eggs. It's also edible. Actually everything in a Lobster is edible."

Ginny put a very small portion on her spoon and delicately touched it to her lips. "Well, It's not bad really, but I think I'll pass on eating it."

As they were finishing the last bits of the tail meat, Andy appeared. "Are you ready for the next serving Harry?"

Harry noticed with a smile that Andy had called him by name. "Yes Andy. And how about another round of drinks, everyone?" They all agreed to beer this time, an American beer called Sam Adams.

The foursome were now getting the hang of Lobster devouring, all agreeing that they were an amazing treat. The girls had their fill after two each. Harry managed three, sharing bites of the tail with Ginny. Ron devoured four before he was finished. And all had another round of Sam Adams.

While waiting for the third serving, Ginny and Hermione made a trip to the girl's loo. "So what did you need to talk about Gin?" Hermione asked.

"Mione, It's very important to me, and it must remain between the two of us. No one else can know about this, especially Harry and Ron. Can you agree to that?"

"Probably, but before I make any promises I'll need to know a little more about it. What exactly does it involve?"

"Mione, I need help in researching a project I'm considering. It's not dangerous or illegal, at least not the research part. When can we get together for a few hours without the boys knowing?"

"Ok, this Wednesday the boys have their monthly Auror status dinner meeting at the Ministry. It usually goes on until about ten. Why don't I floo to your place right after work. We can eat take-away and talk about whatever. Sound ok?"

"It's a date, Mione. And thanks."

When Ron was finally finished, Andy asked if anyone wanted desert, knowing that they would probable not, and then served them a complementary coffee liqueur called Takai.

It was the perfect finish to a perfect dinner that they all enjoyed immensely. Harry paid the bill with his Royal Bank of London credit card, giving a generous thirty percent tip to Andy. Fully sated, they walked back to the Leaky and returned to their respective homes.

End chapter three.


	4. Chapter 4

A Stranger Amongst Them

See disclaimer in chapter one.

Chapter four It's the idea that counts

Ginny sat in the kitchen going over the many notes she had made. She had owled Charlie asking about the availability of Dragon hide, and if he knew of any properties of the hide that would repel or absorb offensive spells. She had a pair of Dragon hide gloves that Charlie had giver her last Christmas, and she did some cursory experiments casting spells at them. The results seemed promising, but would require a lot more testing.

Shortly past five, Hermione appeared in the floo and stumbled out into the kitchen. "Hi Gin. What's up?"

"Nothing much Mione, just waiting for you. I'll order some take-away. What would you like? Chinese ok?"

"Yea, Chinese is fine, and a butterbeer."

Ginny called in her order, opened two butterbeers, and sat at the table, pondering how she should approach this with Hermione. She decided that she would only cover the aspects of spell shielding, and not her real purpose behind it.

"Ok Gin, What's on your mind that's so important to be kept secret?"

Ginny told her the story watching the Ivanhoe movie on the telly, and her thoughts on some type of shield other than spell shields. "What I really need, Mione, is to research everything that is known about things that block offensive spells. My idea is to build a shield much like the shields that were used by the worriers in that movie."

"So if you are successful, what are you going to do with such a shield?"

"Think about it Mione. Imagine yourself engaged in a duel. Spells are flying at you from every direction. You could cast a spell shield around yourself, but then you can't cast spells from behind the spell shield. Now imagine that you had in your left hand a shield made of something that would stop any spell before it hit you. And at the same time you could cast your own spells with your free hand unimpeded by your own non-spell shield. Think of the possibilities."

"Ok, but if such a shield were possibly, don't you think that someone would have thought of it by now?"

"Mione, were talking about the magical community here. A society that's centuries behind any technological advances. Look at my parents for example. Then look at us. Electricity, telephones, computers, modern appliances in our homes. I have read about flexible materials called Kevlar that can stop bullets. There are so many possibilities in the modern world that the magical world is totally ignorant of, is it any wonder that no one has thought of this before. I need to research the possibilities in both the Muggle and magical worlds."

"I need your help, Mione. I have gotten pretty good using my computer to research things in the Muggle world. But I don't know even how to begin researching in the magical world. You're the expert here, Mione. That's where I need your help. Please!"

Hermione thought about this for a minute. Not that she didn't trust Ginny, but something in the back of her mind was thinking that she had an ulterior motive for all of this. "Ok Gin. I think I can help. It's been pretty boring lately at the ministry. This sounds like something I could really get into. I'll start tomorrow. First, let's go over everything again, to make sure I know where this is headed."

Several weeks went by, during which time Ginny started a daily training regime to get herself back into shape and improve her dueling technique. She set up a practice mannequin to which she attached her Dragon hide gloves, and tested different spells against it with only moderate success. She had heard from Charlie earlier in the week. He could provide her with a piece of Dragon hide if she needed it. He said that Dragons were mostly unaffected by the normal spells that were used on other magical creatures to control them, but did not know why.

She met with Hermione each week, but she had nothing to report. She managed to purchase a used Kevlar vest for testing, but so far without success. She was starting to get frustrated as each clue ended in a blank wall. Finally, Hermione called her to say that she had something and would be over on Wednesday.

"I think I found something," Hermione proclaimed even before she stepped out of the floo. "Look at this. I copied it from a very old spell book I found in the Ministries' library."

"Sit down Mine, first things first. Take-away? Chinese" Butterbeer?"

"Yea, ok. Sorry. Go order it and lets talk."

Hermione showed her the copied article, pointing out that it was from a very old text, and some of the words did not make sense. "For instance," Hermione continued. "The article mentions a substance called Arum. I don't know what that is, Gin. Any ideas?"

"I'll look it up on the computer, but first, what does it do?"

"Well, according to the article, anything protected by this Arum stuff is not affected by most spells. It doesn't say how to do this, just the results. It also mentions something called bauxite, saying that it showed promise but that it was very rare. It's not much Gin, but it's a start."

"Thanks Mine. Your right, it isn't much, but it might lead to something. Remember, that book is very old, and it might be talking about something that was rare back then, but not now. I'll start researching on the computer tomorrow after Harry goes to work. I'll call you if I find anything."

"Good luck then. Ron will be home shortly so I have to go. Bye Gin."

"Yea, and thank you Mione."

The next day after Harry left for work, Ginny turned the computer on, paid a few bills, checked their accounts in London, and started her research. It didn't take long to find that Arum was Gold, and that Bauxite was a mineral ore from which Aluminum was extracted. Aluminum foil is available anywhere she thought.

With about another hour of searching, she discovered a textile company in South Africa that produced a woven cloth material made out of very fine Gold thread, and that it was available through the internet, albeit very expensive. She placed her order using Harry's credit card, knowing that she paid all the bills and that Harry never looks at the bank statements. She sent off an owl to Charley asking him to send her a piece of Dragon hide. She included the dimensions she thought she would need.

While she was on her computer, Ginny had the bright idea to research the night vision goggles she had read about in a Muggle magazine. They were large and bulky, but allowed good night vision in almost total darkness. She learned that a new technological development had enabled the manufacture of much smaller night vision glasses that resembled the Omnioculars Harry had purchased at the world cup several years ago, but without all the knobs and buttons. They were expensive, but Ginny thought that they would be useful, so she ordered a pair.

The next day while shopping in Diagon Alley, Ginny stopped by the twins WWW shop. While perusing the new products display, she noticed an item called Sun in the Sky. "What's this all about?" she asked George.

He replied, "Ah yes, one of our more brilliant ideas. Sins. We thought of it one night while watching a group of birds skinning dipping in Wadesworth pond. Starkers they were, and we thought a bit of sunlight above them would improve our view. Toss them in the air and direct them with a wand high over the subjects in question. Then a flick of the wrist and the right words and they explode into a brilliant light that floats slowly to the ground under a parachute."

"Brilliant George. I'll take a dozen."

"Hold on there little sister. These are experimental and not ready for the general public. We haven't decided yet how much to charge."

"Ok, I'll make you a deal. Let me take these and if they work as I suspect, I may be able to get you a contract for hundreds of these from a very reliable source."

George looked at her with a confused expression on his face. "And just what might you be up to little one?"

"I can't tell you right now, but trust me. It could happen. But you have to promise not to disclose who you gave these to. Deal?"

"If you say so. Not that we trust you, but in the spirit of entrepreneurship, they are yours."

Ginny took the whole box and thanked George profusely, saying her goodbyes.

Wow! Ginny thought to herself. My arsenal is growing. Those Sins things and the night vision glasses might just come in handy. And with those four materials, Kevlar, Gold cloth, Aluminum foil, and Dragon hide, I think that's sufficient to start some serious experimentation. But how to tell if the spells are being stopped? She thought about this for a while, then decided to use common household plants as her test subjects.

She purchased several flats of a flowering plant, the name of which she did not know. They were large and had an abundance of flowers in bloom. And they were cheap. She set all this up in Harry's training room, being careful to arrange things such that everything could be removed leaving no trace. Then she cast a few spells to determine their effect without a shield. Disaster. The plants exploded with such force that plant remnants and potting soil was sprayed all around the room. Even with magic, it took her hours to clean up. Back to the drawing board.

Then a brilliant idea struck her. The Burrow. Plenty of room. I could do it in the woods so there would be no cleanup. Molly volunteers four days a week. Great, she thought, problem solved.

The next day, Ginny packed everything she needed into a large rucksack and Apparated to the Burrow. She picked her spot near the woods edge and set up several rows of potted plants. She hit them with a dozen offensive spells, each time noting in her log the spell and the extent of the damage. Satisfied with the days work she Disapparated back home.

After about a week, she had all the materials she needed, having purchased a roll of heavy duty Aluminum foil at a local store. The Gold cloth was delivered by Royal Mail, and Charlie sent the Dragon hide by a large owl. She packed it all into her rucksack and returned to the Burrow.

She repeated her previous experiments with each item separately. She carefully documented the results, some of which were startling. It took her hours to complete all the tests before Molly would be home. Finished, she packed up and Disapparated.

Tomorrow was her weekly meeting with Hermione, and she wanted to be ready. She carefully prepared charts summarizing the results.

SPELLS NO GOLD DRAGON ALUMINUM

USED SHIELD KEVLAR CLOTH HIDE FOIL

Avada plants burned partially partially material

Kedavra destroyed hole blocked absorbed destroyed

Crucio plants wilted no affect partially blocked partially

blocked blocked

Defodio plants destroyed absorbed partially blocked no affect

blocked

Deprimo plants destroyed absorbed blocked blocked no affect

Diffindo plants cut material partially cut blocked material

cut material cut

Expelliarmus no affect no affect partially no affect blocked

blocked

Expulso plants destroyed partially blocked blocked no affect

absorbed

Incarcerous ropes around ropes around blocked blocked no affect

plants material

Reducto plants partially blocked partially material

estroyed absorbed absorbed destroyed

Sectumsempra Plants material partially cut partially material

destroyed destroyed material absorbed destroyed

Stupefy plants wilted no affect partially partially blocked

blocked absorbed

Note: no affect means that the spell was NOT stopped or absorbed by the material.

Interpretation and layer order:

1. Dragon hide provided the most protection, but it was weak against Reducto and Stupefy.

2. Gold cloth was strong against Reducto and others, but only partially effective against Stupefy.

3. Kelvar was effective against those spells that caused physical force against the target, making it most effective against Defodio, Deprimo, Expulso, and Reducto.

4. Aluminum foil was only effective against Stupefy and Expelliarmus.

Sectumsempra was the most difficult to stop, being only partially blocked by Dragon Hide. The spell did cut slightly into the hide, but was easily repaired.

End chapter four


	5. Chapter 5

A Stranger Amongst Them

See disclaimer in chapter one.

Chapter five Putting it all together

Hermione stepped out of the floo and stumbled across the floor. "Well at least I didn't fall this time. Hi Gin, how's things?"

"Hi Mione, every things fine. How have you been?"

"Just great. So how are things going with your project?"

Ginny handed Hermione the worksheets from her experiments. "I worked all last week doing these tests. Some of the results are as expected, but others are quite surprising. Have a seat and look them over. Can I get you anything?"

"Yea, a bit of tea would be good." Hermione paused a moment as she perused the documents Ginny had prepared. "Wow! These are really interesting Gin. You put a lot of work into this."

"Thanks Mione. Read them over while call for take-away. Chinese ok again?"

"Yea, ok Gin," Hermione mumbled as she concentrated on the data."

Ginny sat at the table drinking her tea and waiting for the take-away order to arrive. Hermione was totally engrossed in the information she was reading. Just as the food arrived, Hermione looked and let out a yell. "Holy Merlin's beard!" she cried. "I never would have expected anything like this. It's ground breaking stuff Gin. Do you realize what you've got here? Do you know what this information is worth? We have to talk about this."

"Yea, I know Mione. I'm hungry, we'll talk while we eat."

They ate their Chinese and drank their tea in relative silence as they each thought about their next move. After they finished eating and while they cleaned the dishes and disposed of the remains, they engaged in idle conversation about jobs, work, families, husbands and whatever. When everything was done, they sat at the table and just looked at each other with big smiles on their faces.

"So what's up Gin. Where do we go from here?"

"I think we should go over the data carefully and decide on how the different layers should be ordered. Notice that I made suggestions on my datasheet, but I would like you to go over it again just to make sure. Next, I have some rough drawings showing what the finished shield should look like, but I haven't the ghost of an idea how to build it. I think that it should be sewn together, but I don't know how to do that."

Hermione carefully examined Ginny's drawings, commenting that it needs something to make the shield more ridged, and that there should be straps or something on the back of the shield to allow the user to hold it properly.

"You're right, Mione, I thought of that, but I don't know how to do it."

Hermione pondered this for a while. Then an idea struck her brain. "I've got it Gin. I know of a seamstress in Muggle London that does custom tailoring. She works with all kinds of materials including leather and plastics. She will be expensive, but if we can afford it, I think she would be our best bet."

"Money is no problem Mione. Harry is very rich and I control his purse strings," Ginny said with a snicker. "Help me make better and more detailed drawings and let's go see your Muggle seamstress."

"Also, Mione, there are still some tests I think we should do. For instance, what is the effect of combining two materials that only partially blocked a spell. As an example, Crucio was only partially blocked by the Gold cloth and the Aluminum foil. What happens when we put the two materials together? Will the curse be completely blocked, or still only partially blocked? That's important to know. We need to do this with all of the spells that were only partially blocked or partially absorbed."

"Also, the cutting spells worry me, especially Sectumsempra. That spell destroyed every material except the Dragon hide. And even that was damaged, though not badly.

"Also, we need to look at other spells that may be encountered. Well, maybe not every spell, but at least one of each class of spells. I only selected a sampling for my first experiments. There are many more to be considered."

"Right. I'll work on that this week. Gin, no offence, but how good are you with the computer?"

"Probably as good as you, Mione. Why, what do you have in mind?"

"Well, if we could exchange information back and forth in real time, things will go a lot faster. Do you have an e-mail address?"

"Of course, so let's exchange addresses. As soon as I have my drawings completed I'll

e-mail them to you and you can make revisions and suggestions and e-mail them back to me. We should have done this long ago. I should have suggested it, but I didn't know how proficient you were with computers and I didn't want to embarrass you."

"That's funny, Gin. I felt the same way. I didn't want to embarrass you either. Ok, that's settled. So what else, any other ideas?"

"Yea, I have a lot of ideas. First, I would like to talk to Charlie in Romania about his Dragons. He knows what spells work or don't work against them. It's likely that he could give us some useful data. I would also like to talk to the engineers, or whatever they call themselves in America where they manufacture Kevlar. But I don't know how I could justify going across the pond without Harry getting suspicious."

"I was going to ask you about that Gin. What exactly is Kevlar?"

"I know nothing about it Mione, except that it is some kind of a flexible plastic that is stronger than steel. It's used in bulletproof vests by the police and others. They say that it can stop bullets."

"Bullets maybe, but not spells. I see on your data sheet that the killing curse burned a hole right through it."

"Yes it did. But interestingly, Kevlar was able to absorb the shock of the more powerful energy exploding spells. I forgot to note this, but when those spells hit the other materials they were thrown back some distance, like they were hit by a powerful wind. But the Kevlar hardly move as it absorbed the shock of the spell hitting it. I thought that was important. I have been hit with those spells in training with the DA, and they can knock you for a loop. So I think the Kevlar should be included."

"Yea, your right," commented Hermione. I never thought about it that way."

"Also, there are spells that can be used to enhance other spells. Salvio Hexia, when used with other spells, augments the spell being cast. What if it is used with the repelling spell, Repello? Suppose those two spells were combined and cast on the materials to repel each of the offensive spells I tested. Is it possible to enhance a material's ability to completely block a spell that was only partially blocked by the untreated material? That's a lot to think about. We still have a lot to do, Mione."

"Your right, we do Gin . But first things first. Let's get this thing designed and on to the seamstress. My guess is that it will take at least several more weeks before were ready to turn the materials over to her. That should give us enough time to complete the additional testing. And let's keep in touch on the computer."

"My fingers are itching to tickle my keyboard, Mione."

"Bye Gin," she laughed as she disappeared into the floo.

End chapter five


	6. Chapter 6

A Stranger Amongst Them

See disclaimer in chapter one.

Chapter six Seamstress to the rescue

The following week, Ginny traveled to Romania to visit her brother Charlie and talk about Dragons. She found out that the hide Charlie sent her had not been cured. Drying and curing a hide makes it more supple and easier to work with. He also told her that there are charms that can be added to the hide that would make it almost impenetrable. Normally that is not done because the charms harden the hide making it inflexible and unsuitable for boots and articles of clothing. There is little use for charmed and cured hides he told her. However, Charlie had no knowledge of the hide's ability to block or absorb offensive spells. No one has ever asked about that he said. With this new knowledge and two pieces of cured and charmed Dragon hide, Ginny returned home.

First thing, and before Harry came home, Ginny e-mailed Hermione with the new information. Hermione's reply: great, now you have to test it all over again. No problem Ginny thought. She just wished Charlie had told her all this before.

For the rest of the week Ginny repeated her tests against the newly acquired hides. Surprisingly, the results were not that different. It still had only limited ability to block Expelliarmus and Stupefy. However, and this made her trip to Romania worth the effort, Sectumsempra now did not even scratch the cured hide. Additionally, the increased stiffness of the hide simplifies the design of the shield.

She e-mailed Hermione that she thought they were ready to give the final designs to the seamstress. Hermione made the appointment for the next day.

When Ginny and Hermione walked into the tiny shop, they were greeted by an equally tiny older woman of oriental descent. She called herself simply 'Yinglo', and spoke in very broken English. After several tries, they finally got her to understand what they needed. They showed her the drawings and dimensions and gave her the four pieces of material. The woman examined each piece closely and for some time before speaking.

It took several tries, but Hermione finally realized that the woman was trying to explain that multiple layers would not hold together without using a sewing technique called Quilting. She also told them that there would have to be a boarder sewn around the edge to keep the materials from delaminating. And, attaching straps to the back of the shield would require extra material which they had not provided.

The Girls demonstrated how the straps were to be used, and when the woman understood, told them that she would provide the additional materials. Hermione made it clear to the woman that they wanted all material scraps to be returned to them. She did not want pieces of Dragon hide and Gold cloth to be discovered.

Finally, the woman took out a beaded device that Hermione recognized as an Abacus. Pushing beads up and down with blinding speed, the woman wrote a number on a piece of scrap paper and handed it to the girls. Hermione looked at the huge number and gasped. The figure the woman wrote was 11,734. About to say something, she realized that the figure was Japanese Yen. She managed to make the women understand that they would be paying in British Pounds. "No, no, the women said. Yen or Euros. No Pound. Pound no good."

"Euros then," said Hermione

The woman pushed the beads around and said, "one hunder five Euros. Ok?"

"Yes," Hermione agreed

"What is that in our money?" asked Ginny.

Hermione thought for a minute, calculating it in her head. "About £95 Gin."

The woman wrote the figure on a scrap of paper and handing it to Hermione and said, "One week. Ok, you comeback one week with money."

"Ok, see you in one week." They waved goodbye and headed home.

"Well, that was an experience," commented Ginny.

The following week, Ginny and Hermione made their way to Gringotts and exchanged Galleons for one hundred twenty Euros, then headed for Muggle London. Ginny was pensive and remarked to Hermione. "Mione, I don't have a good feeling about this."

"Gin, relax. I've seen what that woman can do. She is very good. I'm sure it will be fine."

"I hope so," remarked Ginny.

After a short walk they entered the tiny shop and stood at the counter. The place appeared empty. "Hello," Hermione said in a loud voice. "Anybody here?"

"Mione, the place is empty."

Hermione made her way around the counter and into the back room. She motioned to Ginny to draw her wand, and together they searched the area. They found the woman and an older oriental man sprawled across the floor, bloody and in pain. They helped them to their feet and onto a bench. The woman was conscious and recognized Hermione, smiling slightly.

"You bring Euros, you take." the woman said with difficulty, pointing to a package on a shelf in the corner of the room.

Ginny quickly opened the package and carefully examined the shield. "It's perfect, Mione. What do we do now?"

"Good question." Hermione thought for a minute, then said, "Gin, I can't leave them here like this. Take the package and get back to your place as quickly as you can. I'll stay here and call the police. As soon as I can, I'll join you. Go now."

Ginny took the package and ran out of the shop, making her way to Diagon Alley. Hermione called the police, then did what she could for the woman to make her comfortable. She took the Euros and placed them in the woman pocket. "It's more than you charged us," she whispered to the woman. "Take it and don't tell anyone what you did for us. Understand?"

The woman nodded and took Hermione's hand in hers. "Thank you," She whispered, and passed out.

Hermione left the shop and watched from across the street. When the police arrived, she discreetly made her way through the London streets and to Diagon Alley and on to Ginny's house.

As Hermione stumbled out of the floo, Ginny was waiting. "Mione, you alright?"

"Yea, Gin. I'm ok. Just let me sit for a minute. Do you have a butterbeer?"

Ginny opened two butterbeers and sat at the table. "So what happened Mione?"

"I don't know exactly. It looks like someone simply robbed her. It didn't appear as if anything else was taken. Nothing seamed to be out of place. The woman was to frightened to tell me anything. And the old man was alive but unconscious. I put the money in her pocket and went across the street to wait for the police, then came here as soon as they arrived."

"Wow! I had a feeling that something was wrong. Anyway, let me show you the shield. It's perfect."

Hermione examined the shield, admiring the woman's craftsmanship. "It does look great," she commented. "Were the remnants in the package?"

"Yea, everything was there. I carefully checked."

"Ok then. On with the plan."

End chapter six


	7. Chapter 7

A Stranger Amongst Them

See disclaimer in chapter one.

Chapter seven Darkness pervades

That evening Harry was quite late getting home. He looked bedraggled and very tired. "Hi love, how was your day?" he greeted.

"My day was fine Harry, but you look like hell. Come on, I kept dinner warm. Let's eat and you can tell me about it."

Harry ate ravenously, like he hadn't eaten in days. Fully sated, he leaned back on his chair and sighed. "It's been a rough day, love. Actually, a rough week. Lot's of bad things going down."

Ginny stood behind him am massaged his neck an shoulders. "Sorry, love. Tell me about it."

"Gin, it's times like this that I am most grateful to have you. I love you and I know that you love me. Knowing that you are here gives me reason to get through the day."

"Thank you love. I'm here for you always. Do you think that you can talk about now, or would you rather talk later?"

"I would rather not talk about at all. But I know that's not good. Let's go sit on the divan and relax a bit, then I'll tell you about it."

They relaxed for a while, cuddling together and engaging in small talk. Ginny felt him relaxing, the tension slowly dissipating from his body. "Any time your ready love, I'm here for you."

Harry took a deep breath, paused, then began his story. "It all started about a month ago. We were getting reports from all over Europe of possible Death Eater activity. Nothing big, just random occurrences of violence in Muggle communities. The Muggle authorities reported that the attacks were gang related, and that the perpetrators were young teen members."

"At first, these occurrences were infrequent and wide spread. They did not seem to be connected to an organized plan of any sort. But as they became more and more frequent, a pattern immerged. The attacks were at first wide spread throughout Europe. As the frequency of the attacks increased, we noticed that the locations were drawing closer together, and closer to England. Then suddenly they stopped. Nothing, no reports of Death Eaters anywhere."

"So what do you think Harry? What do you make of this?"

"Good question, love. Ron is heading the investigative team. You know how good he is at strategies. His theory is that the original series of attacks were unrelated and done by rogue bands of teen gang members. Possibly Death Eater wannabes. Someone managed to get them organized and took leadership of them, forming a very dangerous Death Eater group much like Voldemort had done years ago. The fact that they are quiet now means that they are probably planning to organize here in England."

"So what do you think about it love? What's your take on it?"

"I agree with Ron. Many others in ministry do not agree. They think it will all just go away and not bother us here in England. That's the same stupid attitude the ministry politicians had when Voldemort was rising to power. Fortunately, there is enough backing for the Auror department to organize a defense strategy and strengthen our forces. We have a call out for help from other ministries. Next week we will be meeting with them in France."

"Then just today, we had reports of known Death Eaters being spotted in different areas around Southampton near the coast. We think that someone is smuggling them into the country across the Channel. It doesn't look good."

"So what's the next move, Harry?"

"I don't know. The Aurors and supporting ministry officials have formed a committee to discuss strategies. I was elected just today to head the committee. I named Ron as second in command. We need a secret outpost that is secure. There is always the possibility that there may be a spy in the ministry, and we have to prepare for that possibility. Ron suggested our house because it is large enough and secure, but I told them that I would have to discuss it with you first. It would mean a certain loss of our privacy, and I don't know if you would agree to that."

Ginny's heart skipped a beat as her brain processed that bit of startling news. What luck, she thought to herself, that falls perfectly in line with my ultimate plan. As her mind worked overtime, she decided to agree with Harry, but only with outward reservations. She couldn't let Harry know that this would fit her plans perfectly.

"Harry, I don't know. I suppose it could work out, but only if I were allowed access to your meetings, be a part of it all. The one thing I won't tolerate is being driven out of here or relegated to the loo while your secret meetings are being held."

"Ok, I can appreciate that. Let me discuss it with the others, and if they agree I will make it official. But you must realize that it could put you at risk. Are you willing to accept that?"

"I am if you are Harry."

"Ok then. I' let you know tomorrow. Let's go to bed. I need you tonight love."

"I'm all yours. Now and forever."

The next day, Harry arrived home with Ron and Hermione in tow. "Hi love, How's things?"

"Good Love," Ginny greeted him with a kiss. "Hi Ron, Mione. How's things?"

"Doing well, Gin," they replied.

"So Harry love, what's the story?"

"Ron and I went over this very carefully. We agreed that you and Mione would be a valuable addition to our conclave. We have included only the most senior Aurors and several ministry members to be a part of this. Kingsley personally vouched for each of the ministry officials we chose. Kingsley, as the Minister of Magic, has given me full authority to act as I deem necessary. Our first meeting will be tomorrow at eight. There will be only twelve of us coming, not including the four of us."

"What about security here, Harry," Hermione asked.

"Before we leave, Ron and I will set up the necessary security precautions, including limiting floo access to the four of us and the other twelve members. Anything else?"

"Yea, how about a name for the group?" suggested Hermione.

"I don't think we need a name, Mione."

"Why not," said Ginny. "It would give us a reference that we could use without anyone knowing what we were talking about."

"Ok, any suggestions?"

They all thought about it in silence. Finally Ginny spoke up. "How about something like good guys against the bad guys. Like GGABG."

"To long," cited Mione."

"Ok, said Ginny'" How's this. Good against Bad. Or simply GAB. We'll call ourselves the GAB club. No one could make any connection to what we are really doing. Just a bunch of people sitting around and gabbing."

"Yes, I like it," said Hermione. All in agreement?"

"Ok, Were the GAB club," Harry said with a chuckle. So the GAB meets for the first time tomorrow at eight."

"Wow!" exclaimed Ginny. "Full house tomorrow. Is there anything I can do in preparation?"

"No, not really," said Harry. "Just make sure that we have plenty of butterbeer and snacks on hand."

"What, no fire-whiskey," Ginny joked.

"I'll ignore that," commentated Harry as Ron laughed. "Well, that's about it for now. Why don't we all take a break tonight an go out for dinner, yea?"

They all agreed that dinner out would be great. So off to London they went.

End chapter seven


	8. Chapter 8

A Stranger Amongst Them

See disclaimer in chapter one.

Chapter eight The GAB club

A little before eight the next evening, the selected twelve started to arrive by floo.

Ron and Hermione were already there, and greeted each member as they arrived. Harry had set up the large family room as their meeting place and furnished it with appropriate chairs an tables. He acquired an overhead projector from the ministry as a visual aid as there was much printed material to review. He didn't want to circulate copies to everyone, too much chance of them falling into the wrong hands.

As the meeting started, Harry introduced Hermione and Ginny to the group, and since not every knew everyone else, suggested that they each in turn introduce themselves, giving their name and position at the ministry.

They had just finished when Ginny heard an owl pecking at the kitchen window. "Excuse me. I'll check it out," said Ginny. She returned with a small scroll in hand and smirking a bit. "It seems that you missed someone Harry. King would like to attend."

"Woops," said Harry. "Gin, If you would, return his owl with an apology, and suggest that he Apparate to our yard outside, and someone will meet him there and bring him up."

"I'll go Harry. Be back shortly."

While they waited for Kingsley to arrive, the group talked mostly amongst themselves. The Aurors and the ministry officials formed separate groups, which troubled Harry. He made a mental note to do something about that. When Kingsley arrived, he was greeted by Harry with humble apologies for not including him in the floo access list.

"No problem Harry. Actually I wanted to check out your security anyway."

Kingsley looked around the group, noticing that he knew each member quite well. Each of the Aurors he had personally trained years ago. "Gentlemen, ladies," he began. "I just have a few words to say, then I'll let you get on with things. First, you need a non- descriptive name for yourselves."

Harry interrupted. "We have decided on 'the GAB club'. We'll refer to ourselves as simply 'GAB'."

"Sounds good. Ok, on with business. As Minister of Magic, I have given Harry full authority to proceed as he thinks best. You will all follow his lead without question, and Harry will keep me informed at all times. Absolutely no one outside this room is to have any knowledge of us as a group, or any knowledge of what we are doing. Is that perfectly clear to everyone?"

They all nodded in the affirmative.

"Good. Now the only suggestion I have is for all of you to think about the possibility of somehow getting a spy out there. Someone to infiltrate their forces. If all agree, I have a candidate in mind, and he is already a ministry employee."

They all looked around somewhat confused. "You don't mean one of us do you minister," someone called out.

"No, no. There is a young boy who just recently finished Auror training, graduating tops in his class. He grew up in the slum districts of London. His situation was brought to my attention when he was about ten years old. He already had a police record for petty theft and other minor crimes. I only learned about him because he is a wizard, and was eligible to attend Hogwarts. But because of his record, the board of governors were reluctant to admit him. I talked to the boy, and learned of his background. He had no knowledge of the fact that he was a wizard."

"I took him under by wing, as the Muggle expression goes. I learned that he was very smart, brilliant in fact. He managed to survive there in the slums despite the fact that his mother abandoned him when he was only about eight years old. He never knew his father. He wasn't even sure of his name. Everyone called him 'Soluna', which roughly translates as the 'lone one'."

"He lived with my wife and I for a year. We officially became his guardian, giving him the name William Peeks, or Billy for short. Don't ask about the name. It was my wife's idea."

"We got him admitted to Hogwarts where he did extremely well in Ravenclaw. Very good grades in all subjects. He applied for admission to the Auror training program, which he did entirely on his own. I recently spoke to him about a dangerous undercover mission, and he said he was interested. If you all agree, I'll handle everything so that none of you will even know what he looks like, and he will know none of you. I have already set up falsified documents showing that he was in Muggle prisons for under age vagrants under the name that he was formally known as, Soluna."

"Again, if you all agree, he will return to the slums of his boyhood and resume his former identity. I will give him an untraceable wand and anything else he needs, including wizard and Muggle money. Harry, I need you to setup dead-drops for him around London with emergency portkeys, money, and anything else he might need if he gets into trouble. If this works, it could prove to be extremely valuable to us. Any questions?"

"Yes," said Harry. "There has to be someway for him to contact us if need be. Also, I think that he should report to someone at least once a week and give a status report, even if there is nothing specific to report."

"I quite agree, Harry. I'll have something setup before he goes under cover. Anything else. Yes Hermione."

"Minister, he will need an emergency backup plan to cover unforeseen contingencies. For example, suppose you are killed, or kidnapped, or otherwise unable to support him."

"You are right, Hermione. I hadn't thought of that. Any ideas, anyone."

"Yes, I have a suggestion." Ginny called out. "I read this in a book. Spies have a secret emergency code word to be used to identify them as friendly's. They use it under exactly the situations mentioned, or to indicate that their cover has been blown."

"An excellent idea Ginny. Anyone have any suggestions? I think it should be something that would never be brought up in normal conversation."

"I have it," said Hermione. "Scaramouch. That certainly wouldn't be used in casual conversation."

"Great word, Hermione. Everyone agree?"

Again they all nodded affirmatively.

"Well, great progress tonight. With that I will take my leave. Good night everyone."

End chapter eight


	9. Chapter 9

A Stranger Amongst Them

See disclaimer in chapter one.

Chapter nine New information

During the next week, Ginny increased her training and conditioning. She practiced casting spells and using her shield against imagined spells cast at her. This isn't working she thought. I need some help, someone to practice with me. Unfortunately Hermione was the person she could trust. But could she? If she told Hermione what she was really planning to do, could she trust her to keep her secret? Well, Ginny thought, I have to try it. I'm up against a wall. There is no other way. Tomorrow she would see Hermione and tell her.

Meanwhile, Harry had set up his house as the base of operations. All Auror and ministry off hour emergency communications were set up and ready. Any attack or knowledge of a pending attack occurring at night or during off hours would be transmitted to the operations room in Harry's house.

Billy Peeks and Kingsley devised a way to communicate every week on Wednesday evenings. The area where Billy had spent his youth was strongly Catholic, most likely because of the high concentration of Spanish and Portuguese immigrants to the area. There was a black Catholic priest, Father Cunningham, in residence at the local church, Saint Etheldresa's. He was a long-time close friend of Kingsley's.

Each Wednesday, Kingsley would visit Father Cunningham at the church's rectory, slip on a cassock and biretta, and stroll over to the church where he would meet Billy in a confessional. This particular confessional was designed with a doorway to the sacristy, allowing the priest to enter and leave without going through the church proper. No one in the church would see Kingsley entering or leaving the confessional In the weeks that followed, the only news that Billy had was that he had hooked up with members of the old gang, and that he was accepted into their fold.

Several weeks later, Billy informed Kingsley that he had been approached by two young men he suspected were Death Eaters. He had no further information as yet, but would keep Kingsley informed.

At her next meeting with Hermione, Ginny approached the subject of needing help training. "I need help Mione. There is no way I can test the shield against incoming spells without someone casting them at me. Would you be able to help? Please?"

"Gin, you want me to attack you? Cast spells against you? What if it doesn't work. What if I hurt you. What if the spells miss and cause damage to Harry's training room. I don't think so, Gin"

"Mione, we won't try it in Harry's training room. We'll do it at the Burrow where I did my testing. Please Mione, I need to do this. I need to know if the shield will work under actual combat conditions."

"Ok, Gin, I will think about it. Let you know tomorrow, ok."

"Ok Mione. But think on it hard. We need to test the shield. Otherwise all our hard work will be for naught. Talk to you tomorrow Mione."

That evening Harry came home later than usual. "Hard day love?" Ginny asked him.

"Sort of, mostly just keeping up with everything. The attacks around London have increased lately. Mostly small stuff. Robberies of small merchants and muggings in bus and train stations. The reports indicate that the perpetrators are mostly young kids, probably gang members. Some of them have been caught by the police, but they are not releasing any useful information, probable because they have no useful information. We think that there is an organized movement behind these robberies, and that they are in need of money to support their future plans. The problem is, we have no idea what those plans might be."

The next day, Hermione met with Ginny. "I'm not happy about this Gin, but I'm willing to give it a try. Let's go. I don't have a lot of time before Ron comes home."

Ginny gathered her gear, including the untraceable wand she had nicked from Harry, and they Apparated to the Burrow. Hermione stood between two large trees with Ginny standing some fifteen meters away. "Ready any time you are," she shouted to Hermione.

Ginny cast several spells at the trees and Hermione cast her spells at Ginny, missing her by almost a meter. "Come on, Mione, you can do better than that. Where is your DA training?"

"Ok, you asked for it." And she started casting spells rapidly with unerring accuracy. They were coming at Ginny too fast for her to avoid them, and she began blocking them with her shield. After blocking several spells, Ginny cast her spells at the trees.

"Come on Mione, You can do better than that. Mix up your spells, try to confuse me. Try every spell we used in our testing. Even the bad ones. If you don't do better I just might miss the trees and hit you."

They kept at it for fifteen minutes before giving in to exhaustion. Hermione's spells were dead on, and Ginny had blocked every one of them while managing to cast her own spells at the trees close to Hermione without her shield causing any difficulty.

"So, what do you think Mione. You think it will work out?"

"Gin, I think it is fantastic. It will take some training for others to learn how to use it, but I think we really have something here."

They examined the shield and could not find a single mark on it. Even Sectumsempra was completely blocked. Tired but extremely satisfied with their work, they headed home.

At the next meeting of GAB, Kingsley reported that there were several breakthroughs in the ongoing investigations. Someone tried unsuccessfully to break into Ollivander's wand shop in Diagon Alley. Also, there were two invasions of wizard's homes where wands, money and jewelry were stolen. The occupants were not home at the time, so fortunately no one was injured. These thefts were reported directly to the ministry and not to the local police.

Next, Kingsley reported that Billy Peeks had been taken to a flat in London by the two men who had originally approached him. They explained to him that they were recruiting men for inclusion into a club that would be very profitable for him. Sometime during the evening a fight broke out between two of the older men there. One of them pulled a wand, and the group's leader quickly subdued the combatants. This was the first evidence he had seen that there were wizards in the group. Unfortunately, he had also pulled his wand in self defense. After the ruckus abated, the fact that that he was a wizard gave him new status.

Kingsley asked him if he had the names of anyone at the meeting. He told Kingsley that they only used nicknames, nothing that would be useful in identifying them. Billy also told Kingsley that he would probably not be able to keep up their Wednesday meetings at the church now that he was living in London. Kingsley suggested that they use one of the dead-drop sites to exchange information. They agreed on this, and said that they would work out the details at the next meeting.

Hermione suggested that Billy be given a charmed coin or other object that could be used to contact us when he needed to pass information, the same way that the DA were contacted. Kingsley thought that was a great idea, although he had no knowledge of the DA members having such an object. Hermione explained how they worked, and Kingsley said that he would obtain something from Billy that could be used. He also complemented Hermione on her magical skills.

There being no additional business, the meeting was adjourned.

End chapter nine


	10. Chapter 10

A Stranger Amongst Them

See disclaimer in chapter one.

Chapter Ten Ginny's plan

Everything is falling into place, Ginny thought to herself. I can monitor the emergency warning reports here, and Apparate directly to the site in question. Now, I just need something to disguise myself. She went through the piles of old training outfits of Harry's, and found a suitable black leather set of pants and a matching long sleeve top. She modified them to fit her snuggly but loose enough to allow for freedom of movement. She modified her Dragon hide Quidditch gloves to allow better finger dexterity.

Next she took a black balaclava and attached an old pair of sunglasses so that they were one slip-on unit. She magically modified the tint of the glasses so that they did not impair her vision but obscured her eyes. Next, she coloured her shield and her gloves black so that everything matched. Putting the outfit on took only a moment or so, and she examined herself in the mirror. What was she forgetting? Her shoes, of course. She found an old pair of Harry's black Dragon hide boots and magically modified them to fit. Ok, she thought. Time for a test run.

Fully dressed and with shield in hand, she Apparated to the test site at the Burrow. Immediately she realized what was wrong. She landed hard and lost her balance. The shield was too bulky for Apparating, and she had no place to secure her wand that she held in her hand. Disapperating back home, she removed her outfit and went to work making improvements and modifications.

She added the appropriate pockets to hold her wand and a backup wand. She shrunk the shield and added a pocket to hold it securely but loose enough that she could quickly remove it and restore it to size. She added a pocket to hold items like her night vision glasses, an emergency portkey, the Sins modules, and medical supplies in case she was injured.

Ginny went over everything in her mind several times. She was satisfied with the results when she test Apparated to the Burrow and back. Everything worked perfectly. Still, something in the back of her mind was bothering her. Then it hit her. She remembered the movie she watched that gave her the idea of the shield. On every shield there was an identifying icon or emblem, usually painted in bright colours. I need something to identify myself she thought. Think Ginevra, think. Maybe a red lightning bolt, or the Gryffindor lion.

But wait a minute, that would only give them something to aim at. Not a good idea. Then she remembered a spell that could be used to conjure an image of whatever. She could conjure images of herself with red lightning bolts on the shield, but several meters away from her on either side of where she was standing. Hopefully, they would aim at the images and not at her. Great idea she thought, and made a mental note to work on this.

Next she needed a place from which she could Apparate to the target location and back. There would probably be someone here in the planning room, so obviously she couldn't come and go from here. There was a small unused space in the garret where she had been hiding her shield and other needed items. That's the perfect place to use, she thought. So she set everything up in the garret space ready for quick access. She modified the anti-apparation spells Harry had cast so that she could Apparate in and out unimpeded.

The last thing she needed to do was familiarize herself with Harry's maps of the areas around London so that she could quickly set the necessary coordinates needed to Apparate outside of the target area. Her plan was to be far enough away so as to not be noticed but close enough to be able to stealthily move in towards the target area. Her night vision glasses would be essential here. She was ready.

On the next Wednesday, Billy Peeks was able to be at the church for probably the last time. He had been told to move in with the others at the meeting house in London. Kingsley told him of the idea of having a coin or medallion that could be used for emergency communications. Billy had a St. Christopher medal on a chain around his neck. Handing it to Kingsley, he explained that St. Christopher is the patron saint of travelers, and that he has worn the small round medallion for many years. Kingsley took it and said that he would return it with instructions in dead-drop 'A' the next day.

They also agreed that written information could be passed in the men's room near platform six at Hackney Downs Railway Station. The medallion when it heated would give the time. The contact would be wearing a purple football cap of the Tottenham Hotspurs. The recognition sign was to touch one's nose with the left hand's thumb.

At the next meeting of GAB, Kingsley went over all of the information they had gathered over the last month. He updated them on the status of Billy Peeks, explaining how the emergency communications medallion would work. Then he asked around for comments and suggestions.

Ron spoke up first. "It looks like they are getting ready to make a move. We now have confirmation that this is not just a bunch of adolescent troublemakers. We are definitely dealing with Death Eaters, or Death Eater wannabes. I think that we should be taking all this very seriously."

"Yes, I agree," said one of the ministry members. "How do we proceed if we get a report of pending activity. Have the Auror squads been advised, and are they ready to go at a moments notice?"

"Yes they are," said Harry. "We will have six squads of six Aurors available at all times.

There will be a ready squad at the ministry day and night, available and ready to go in minutes. The ready squads rotate every twelve hours. An additional squad will be on call at all times, ready to go within half an hour. All other Aurors will be on short notice call. In all we have about fifty trained Aurors, with a class of twenty more available in the near future. Any comments?"

"Yes, Harry," asked another ministry official. "How well are these Aurors trained. And is there a squad leader with each group?"

"Again, yes," replied Harry. "There will be a senior Auror acting as squad leader in each group. As to how well they have been trained, for now we can only train them with traditional methods. We have no idea what we will eventually be up against. So the only thing we can do is hope for the best. We have trained everyone to be ready for those things that we have been up against in the past. That's about the best we can do."

"Mr. Potter, We..," Harry quickly interrupted the speaker.

"Sir, we have no such formalities here. Everyone here on an equal basis. Please call me Harry."

"Sorry, er, Harry. Anyway, have you given any thought to the possibility that these marauders may be using Muggle weapons against us, like guns for instance."

"Actually, no," replied Harry. "In the past, and most of us here were involved in the war against Voldemort, there was not a single incident where Muggle weapons were used. In my opinion, and this is only an opinion, the reason for that is because of the wizarding worlds disgust for all things Muggle. For any of them to even consider using a Muggle weapon would be admitting to Muggle superiority. And that no wizard is about to do, especially Death Eaters who abhor anything Muggle."

Harry paused, then continued, "However, you may have a point for concern here. I hadn't thought about it, but we are dealing with a younger generation. I think that it would behoove us to look further into this. Any comments King?"

"Yea, that's certainly something to think about. I seriously doubt it's going to happen, but to be on the safe side, I'll look into it. I know some people at Scotland Yard Metropolitan Police Special Forces division. I'll contact them and see if we can set up a meeting. I'll let you know at our next meeting."

"Ok, If that's all for now, meeting adjourned.

Ginny sat through the whole meeting biting her lip. She so much wanted to tell them about Kevlar and her shield, but it's not time she decided., but soon.

End chapter ten


	11. Chapter 11

A Stranger Amongst Them

See disclaimer in chapter one.

Chapter eleven. The stranger in black.

The next two weeks passed quickly, Ginny continued her training, and there were no further occurrences of Death Eater activities reported. Everything seemed quiet for now.

Kinsley reported at the next meeting of GAB that he had met with several officials at Scotland Yard, and that they were open to the idea of training a few senior Aurors in Muggle defensive techniques.

The following day, Kingsley's medallion became warm, signaling an incoming message. It simple indicated a time, fifteen minutes. Kingsley knew that a message was to be passed in fifteen minutes in the men's room at Hackney Downs station. He immediately donned his purple hat and set off for the station.

At almost exactly fifteen minutes, Kingsley entered the Men's room, which appeared to be empty, and proceeded to a wash basin and washed his hands. A young man with a bearded face stepped out of a stall and approached Kingsley, running his thumb across his nose. Kingsley returned the signal and was surreptitiously slipped a small piece of paper. Kingsley looked at the paper in his still wet hand, then looked up to say something to the man, but he had already disappeared. Kingsley immediately returned to his office at the ministry.

Behind closed doors, Kingsley read the message. It simply said, 'Raid tonight, 9:pm, 16 Beechway, Guilford'. Kingsley immediately called an emergency meeting of GAB.

"What's going on King," asked Harry.

"Is everyone here? Good. Today I received a message from Billy. It simply said that a raid was planned for nine pm tonight at 16 Beechway in Guilford. Anyone know that address?"

"Yea, King," said one of the ministry officials. "That's Josh Westfors' place. I've been there several times. Josh works at the ministry with Mike Manningham. He's in charge of keeping track of wands."

"Great, what do you remember about the house and surrounding area?"

"Well I've only seen the first floor, average layout with a large central room. Josh and his wife live there alone. Their three children are married and living elseware. The grounds are well kept, lots of flowering bushes all around the house. The property is surrounded by a grove of trees about ten or so metres back from the house. The nearest property, if I remember correctly, is at least forty to fifty metres away. It's quite private and isolated."

"Ok, Harry, Ron. Set up your strategy and plans. Meet me at the ministry at eight. That should give us enough time to get everyone in position. Meeting adjourned."

The ministry officials and most of the Aurors were excused. Harry asked one of his senior group leaders, Joe Gorton, to stay behind and help with the planning. They outlined the target area on an enlarged map and marked several areas around the perimeter that would afford them the best view of anyone approaching from the street or from the woods.

The plan was to station four Aurors around the perimeter and two Aurors inside the house. A second squad would be ready at the ministry and could be on site within seconds of being called. Harry thought about this for a minute. Although the Aurors are only seconds away, it takes much longer to get a message to them. We need better communications he thought.

Joe would be squad leader, Harry would be stationed at one of the areas marked on the map, and Ron would be in the house. The Westfores would be forewarned, but were told to proceed as per a normal day, just in case they were being watched. The three agreed to the plan and departed to the ministry to prepare.

Ginny was ecstatic, but at the same time very nervous. She checked Harry's map and decided on an area deeper into the woods behind the Auror locations. This would allow her to observe without being seen, and provide an access to the target area when the fighting began. She decided to Apparate to her area shortly after the Aurors arrived.

Ginny went up to the garret and dressed and prepared herself. She removed her engagement ring and carefully placed it on a chest of drawers. At about half eight, she Apparated to her target area. Landing with a thud up against a tree, she righted herself and looked around the area to get her bearings. It wasn't quite dark yet, and she could make out the house and surrounding areas. Remembering where Harry had placed the Aurors, she quickly located them, positioning herself between them. Then she sat down and waited.

Shortly before nine, she heard the distinct sounds of bodies Apparating to the area directly in front of the house. She was thankful that long ago she had learned to Apparate silently, thank you DA.

It was nearly dark now, but she could make out at least twelve Death Eaters. She watched as they approached the house. On Harry's signal, the Aurors attacked, completely surprising the Death Eaters. As they scattered and began to return fire, Ginny moved to flank them and started casting spells. She had the advantage of position over the Aurors, and quickly immobilized three Death Eaters in quick succession. She conjured her self-like images on either side of her. This seemed to confuse them, but only briefly. A group of three Death Eaters spotted her and moved in firing spells at her with unexpected accuracy. She adeptly blocked all incoming spells with her shield as she returned fire, immobilizing three more Death Eaters. Realizing that they were beaten, the remaining Death Eaters Apparated away.

Ginny noticed that one of the men she immobilized was about to break out of his restraints. She ran to him with wand at the ready, pointing it in his face. The man was shaking with fright, and blurted out to her, "Scaramouch."

Ginny immediately recognized the ID code. She removed the bindings around the man and said, "GO!"

Her job done, and with great satisfaction, Ginny Apparated home to her garret hideaway.

A few hours later, The GAB members arrived for a post encounter meeting. Ginny was expecting them and had food and drink ready. As they all settled down, Kingsley arose to speak. "Well, I think that was a very successful endeavor. I'll comment later, after your report Harry."

"Yes, in a way it was," commentated Harry. "However, there are a number of questions I need answered. We survived virtually unscathed, with only a few minor injuries. We captured seven Death Eaters, all of whom are now secured in holding cells at the ministry. All of them are quite young, The others were able to Apparate away when they realized that they were beaten. However, other than the two Death Eater the Aurors in my squad immobilized, five others were immobilized by one person. And nobody can tell me who that person is."

"I don't understand, Harry," stated Kingsley. "You are the leader of this group, and yet you don't know which of your men single handedly immobilized five Death Eaters. Harry, What gives?"

"Actually, King, I think he immobilized six men. Johnny told me afterwards that he saw the man release and allow someone to escape."

"Harry, let me get this straight. Your telling me that an Auror, who is yet to be

identified, outdid the entire rest of your squad, and you know nothing about it."

"Actually King, I don't think he is an Auror. All my men have been accounted for. It wasn't one of them. I didn't actually see this person, but those in my squad described this stranger as something like a comic book character, like the dark avenger. He was dressed entirely in black, which made him very difficult to see.

One of my men, who was closest to him, said that he was using some kind of a shield. Not a conjured spell, but a an actual physical shield. He said that he watched in awe as three Death Eaters cast their spells together in rapid succession, and this person used his shield to block the incoming spells while casting his own spells. You just can't do that. Also, he said that he was sure that several of the spells were unforgivables, specifically the killing curse, and they all hit their target dead-on. None of this makes sense King. I don't have the answers."

"Ok, Harry, we will talk about this later at the ministry. I want everyone involved in my office by ten. Meeting's adjourned."

Through all this, Ginny was sitting quietly with a hidden smirk on her face. Hermione kept looking daggers at her, which Ginny seamed to be enjoying. After the meeting, Hermione pulled Ginny aside. "We will talk about this tomorrow, Don't think that I'm letting you get away with this."

Ginny smiled. "What ever do you mean, Mione?"

"You know exactly what I mean Ginevra." And Mione disappeared into the floo.

End chapter eleven.


	12. Chapter 12

A Stranger Amongst Them

See disclaimer in chapter one.

Chapter twelve. The cat's out of the bag.

Early the next morning Hermione stumbled out of the floo and immediately started on Ginny. "Ginevra Molly Weasley, just what did you think you were doing? You could have been killed. I know it was you. Admit it, that was you out there."

"Yes Mione, it was me. And everything worked perfectly, thanks to your help."

"Don't you be thanking me. If I had known what you were up to I would have told Harry long ago."

"So, are you going to tell him now?"

Hermione paused, hammed and hawed a bit as she fidgeted about. "Well, I don't know. I have to think about that."

"You have to admit, Mione, everything did work," Ginny said laughing. "You should have seen those wannabes running around. They were scared out of their jocks. That was probably the first time that they had ever been in a real fight. They had no idea what to do. I took them out easily."

Now Hermione was laughing. How did you take out so many Gin. All the others only managed to get one, and that was Harry's doing."

"Position and location Mione. Do you remember how much Harry stressed that in our DA meetings?"

"Yea, I guess. At least one of us was paying attention. So what's next Gin? Are you going to tell Harry now?"

"No, not just yet. I haven't even used everything in my arsenal. And I want to make a modification to the shield. I found that it became tiresome to hold the shield with only my arm. I am going to add a harness to help support the shield. Let me have one more go at it, then I promise I'll tell Harry."

GAB met several times that week. The main topic of conversation was still the mysterious stranger in black. They went over every detail of the attack, considered every possibility. Still no clue as to the stranger's identity.

Ron brought up the subject of the captured man who was freed by the stranger. "I think that we have to look at this more carefully," he said. "Why would someone give him his freedom after just immobilizing him?"

Kingsley suddenly had a thought. "I should have thought of this before," he said. "Suppose that person was Billy, and he gave the stranger the code word 'Scaramouch'. What would you have done, Harry?"

Harry thought for a moment. "I think your right, King. I would have freed him. So how many of us knew about the code word? Only those of us in this room and most of the Aurors. I can account for the whereabouts of everyone that evening, and it could not have been any of my staff. Also, from all reports this stranger was obviously very well trained. He knew combat dueling techniques like he invented them."

"So what haven't we considered, Harry? What about all those students you trained in the DA. Do you think it could be any of them?"

"Good question, King. There are only a few of them left in this area, and most of them are in the Auror training program. But I think your on the right track. I'll investigate this further and let you know."

"Ok, if there is nothing else, Meeting adjourned."

Later that week, Kingsley was sitting in his office at the ministry when his medallion signaled a message, 'ten am'. That's an hour from now thought King. I have to see Harry.

Fortunately Harry was early that morning, and Kingsley found his going through a stack of papers at his desk.

"Harry, glad you're here. I just got a buzz on my medallion. Billy needs to pass a message at ten this morning. I suspect that he is being followed, and the repeated presence of a large black man could be a problem. Will you go for me?"

"No, I might be recognized. I'll send Joe Gorton. Where is your hat?"

Kingsley handed Harry the purple hat, and Harry called Joe to his office. Harry explained the procedure to Joe, the nose recognition thing, and warned Joe that Billy might be followed. "Good luck, and be careful," Harry said as Joe left on his mission.

At about half ten, Joe returned to Harry's office. Kingsley was waiting, and unfolded the message. "Billy needs to talk," said Kingsley as he read the message. "He wants to see me at the church Sunday at seven thirty. He says that he will be attending Mass at eight, and that someone will be with him. This sounds important Harry. I want you to be there with me in case something comes up."

"No problem, king. Pick me up at my house at seven, I'll be ready."

At seven, Harry and Kingsley headed out to Saint Etheldresa's church. "I want you in the church, Harry. Do you think you can look like a Catholic?"

Harry laughed. "Yes King. I've been to Mass before. After the war, I attended several funerals at a Catholic church in London. I know how to bless myself."

"Ok. After you see Billy leaving the confessional, stick around till after the Mass, then meet me at the ministry."

Kingsley dressed in the usual priestly garb and headed into the sacristy. Billy was already in the confessional when Kingsley entered. "What's up Billy?" Kingsley started.

"I'm being watched constantly King, so I'll be brief. Something big is in the works. I don't know what yet, but about twelve of the inner circle have been meeting secretly for the past two weeks. They are doing some kind of training at a secret location. No one is saying anything about it, but I can tell that it is big. Be ready for anything, King. Don't let them take you by surprise. When I know anything I will use the medallion. I don't think we should pass the message as before, I'm being watched too closely. Have someone watching outside the Men's room at the time I indicate. I will use the loo, then wash my hands and rap the message in a hand towel and dispose of it in the trash bucket. After I leave, have someone retrieve the message from the trash. And lose the purple hat. Got it?"

"Yes Billy. One question. Who was it that freed you after you had been taken down?"

"I don't know. Some one all in black, I was watching him fight. He was awesome. After he immobilized me he approached me with his wand in my face. I thought he was going to kill me, so I used the code. He immediately freed me and said only 'go'. The strange thing is, his voice was very high pitched, like a young boy or a girl. That's all I know. Have to go, King." And he exited the confessional and took a seat in the church.

End Chapter twelve.


	13. Chapter 13

A Stranger Amongst Them

See disclaimer in chapter one.

Chapter Thirteen. Walkie Talkies

Another week went by with no further reports of suspected Death Eater activity. Kingsley informed everyone of the conversation he had with Billy. "What do you think, anyone?" Kingsley asked.

"I don't know, King," said Ron. "But I think Billy is right. Secret training sessions definitely point to something new. My best guess is that because of their poor showing and total failure the last time, they are probably training very hard. Maybe they found someone who has experience training wizards. Possibly someone from another country. Or from another school such as Durmstrang."

Harry was troubled by Ron's suggestion. "If that's what they are up to, then we had better prepare ourselves for a lot of dark magic. That's what Durmstrang is famous for teaching," he said. "So what do you suggest we do, Ron. How do we counter dark magic?"

"I think that we, and maybe King, should go to Hogwarts an talk to some of the teachers. They might come up with some ideas that would help us."

"Good idea Ron," said Kingsley. "So, anything else? Oh, wait a minute, I forgot something. I asked Billy if he knew who had freed him. He said that he had no idea, but he had been watching the stranger and commented that he had never seen anyone duel with such ferocity. He also commented on the fact that the one word the stranger spoke was of a very high pitch, much like a young boy or a young girl."

Hermione immediately spoke up. "I don't think that's true. The man was obviously trying to hide his identity, so it stands to reason that he would attempt to disguise his voice. That makes a lot more sense than believing that he is a young boy or a girl."

"Maybe so Hermione. We'll have to think on that. So if there is nothing else, this meeting is adjourned."

As they left the meeting room, Ginny grabbed Hermione and whispered to her, "I love you Mione. Thank you."

The weeks passed without incident. The teachers were not very helpful. None of them knew much about dark magic. The one teacher who could help them was dead. Poor Severus, Harry thought.

Then quite unexpectedly, while he sat in a meeting at the ministry, Kingsley's medallion activated. It indicated 9:45. "Find Harry," he yelled, and everyone poured out of the room in search of Harry.

Kingsley found Harry in another meeting room across the hall. "The medallion," he said. "We have fifteen minutes. Get Joe."

"Not Joe, he has already been seen. I set it up with Sammy Blackburn. He has been briefed, and he knows what to do. He is down in the training room. I'll have him on his way in five minutes."

They waited forty five minutes for Sammy to return. "I should have gone with him," Harry said. Just as the words were rolling out of his mouth, Sammy appeared in the doorway.

"Slight complication there," he said. Just as I was about to enter the loo, a maintenance crew showed up. It took a while for me to convince them that I had accidentally dropped something into the waste bin after washing my hands. But I got it."

He handed the damp and crumpled paper to Kingsley who unfolded it and began to read. "Thank you Sammy," Kingsley said. And Sammy got the hint an left the room.

"So! What does it say?"

"It's strange Harry. It just gives an address, '8 Belgrave Road. 9pm. Important'. Nothing else."

"Call a meeting King. We need to discuss this seriously."

The meeting opened with Kingsley showing everyone the note. Harry was the first to speak up. "I checked that address and it only shows an old abandoned house. There is no owner listed. I don't like this."

"It sounds like a trap, Harry," stated Ron.

"Ok, maybe it is," said Kingsley. So what do we do about it?"

"Well, we have several options here," said Ron. "We could just ignore it and do nothing. We could show up at just before nine and see what happens. Or we could send a recon squad there and see what gives."

"I hope you were joking about those first two options, Ron. But I like the last one. I will go there around seven with my invisibility cloak and look around. Now King, what ever happened to those communications devices I ordered more than a month ago?"

"Ops, Sorry Harry. They are sitting in my office. No one knew what they were. I tried a couple of them but nothing happened."

"Did you think to insert the batteries King?"

"What are batteries, Harry?"

"Gods, I don't believe this. Ok, Hermione, Gin, go now to Kingsley's office and bring them here. Hermione, have you ever used something like hand held portable communications devices?"

"Yes Harry, I have. Gin and I will get them immediately and have them working as soon as possible. They are really simple to use. Even a wizard like yourself could learn how to use them in a few minutes."

Harry noticed the smirk on Hermione's face. "Well thank you Mione. Now go, the two of you."

"We have a few hours. I am going to map out the area around that address and then do my thing. Everyone be back here in one hour."

An hour later, the meeting convened with everyone present except Harry. "While we wait Hermione, why don't you demonstrate these communication things," suggested Ron.

"Ok," responded Hermione. These are two-way radios. Some call them 'walkie-talkies', but I think for now we will just refer to them as radios. There are only two dials you have to know about. Each radio has ten channels available. To call someone, simple set the dial to the channel assigned to that person and press this little button. The other dial is a volume control. It can be set very low so that only the user can hear by holding the radio up to his ear."

"You will notice on the back of the radio there is a place where you can write the person's name next to the channel number. For example, Ginny's radio is set to channel one. There is also a channel marked 'all'. Setting the dial to that channel will call everyone. You can talk to everyone at the same time.

"Ok, half of you go out on the lawn in front of the house. Ginny, you go with them and show them how they are used. We will use channel one to start. Call me when you are ready."

A few minutes later the radio in Hermione's hand started to vibrate. She pushed the talk button. "I'm here Gin."

Ginny responded and the entire group around Hermione were able to hear her. "Notice that I had the volume turned up. I am going to turn it down now and talk to Ginny. "Hay gin, say a few words and then let others try it." Hermione held the radio up to her ear. She could hear Ginny perfectly, but no one else heard a thing.

They all played with the radios, fascinated by the clever Muggle technology. Just then Harry returned.

"Hi everyone. Sorry it took so long, but I have good news. There is someone in that house. I could see light through the cracks in the boards covering the windows. I couldn't see in, but I could hear them. They are planning to ambush us from behind the trees surrounding the property. They will be ready early, waiting for us to show. So let's make plans."

Harry continued to outline his plan with strategic help from Ron. "Your on Ron."

"Ok, they will probably expect us to Apparate to this area of trees surrounding the house, just as we did the last time. Ron pointed to the row of trees around the house, about four or five metres in. They will be waiting behind these trees on the perimeter."

"So instead, two squads will Apparate to a point about three metres on either side of them, trapping them between our two squads. We move in on Harry's signal. Harry will lead the first squad, and I will lead the second. I don't know if we will surprise them this way, but it's better than Apparating to the house directly."

Harry continued, "Hermione, there is a park about five km from the house. These radios are good for about eight km. I want you to be at that park with your radio to relay messages to King. I will have one of the radios, after you show us how to use them, and Ron and Joe Gorton will have the others. King, I need you near the ministry. There will be several squads waiting backup if necessary. They are ready and waiting. Any questions? If not, than we move out in one hour."

After Harry and the others left for the ministry, Ginny studied the maps and decided that her best choice would be to Apparate to a small area behind the house before the Aurors, then move in cautiously. She sat in the garret, contemplating her next move. Did she really want to do this? You've got to be kidding, she told herself. I wouldn't miss it for the world. She was dressed and ready.

End Chapter thirteen.


	14. Chapter 14

A Stranger Amongst Them

See disclaimer in chapter one.

Chapter Fourteen. Surprise

At the appropriate time, Ginny Apparated to an area behind the house a few minutes before the Aurors. She looked around the area, the land, the house. That house looks ready to collapse, she thought. Then she saw a dim light coming through the cracks in the boards covering the windows. She stealthily moved closer and peered inside. What she saw made her cringe. There were at least a dozen men inside the building, maybe more. Harry doesn't know about this she said to herself. They could easily overwhelm the Aurors with their superior numbers. Then she had a thought. When the attack begins, I'll blast the house to smithereens. That should trap most of them in the house and create a diversion that will help the Aurors. She carefully checked the left and right sides of the house, planning where best to cast the blasting spells. She remembered using these spells in her testing, and that 'expulso' did the most damage.

On Harry's signal, two squads of Aurors Apparated to their designated targets. When the Aurors started their attack, Ginny cast a devastating explosion spell that rocked the very foundation of the dilapidated old house. She quickly moved to the rear and then to the other side of the house repeating the explosion spell until the old structure collapsed in a cloud of smoke and debris. Several Death Eaters managed to escape through the front door, and Ginny took them out before they had a chance to react.

The explosions shocked and scattered the Death Eaters allowing the Aurors to move in and quickly launch their attack. What followed next was beyond anything anyone could have anticipated. The Death Eaters were wielding guns, semi-automatic weapons of death. Quickly recovering from the surprise and confusion of the explosions, the gunmen started firing at the Aurors.

Acting out of pure instinct, Harry yelled at his men to fall-back and take cover. Ron reacted a little more quickly than Harry and moved to face the gunmen, rapidly casting spells in defense. Ron disabled one gunman just as he took a bullet to the chest. Reeling from the impact he raised his wand to retaliate and was hit by a second bullet to his abdomen.

Harry watched in horror as Ron fell to the ground. Just to Ron's left, Harry saw Joe Gorton take two bullets to his neck and head. In a rage, Harry charged the gunmen casting spells in rapid succession, disabling the closest gunman. As he saw the gunman fall, Harry was hit in the chest and was thrown backwards from the impact.

Ginny's entire body froze as her eyes took in the carnage in front of her. Her muscles refused to react, her mind absorbed by the bloodshed and her brain slipping into a catatonic state. She had never experienced a horror like this. Calling upon every fiber of her body, she pushed her shield in front of her and charged the gunmen head-on. She hit the first with a blast that shattered the man's body, and immediately took a bullet to her shield from close range. Acting on instinct alone, she blasted two more gun-slingers while taking another hit to her shield.

The gunmen were spreading out away from her now, making it difficult to keep all of them within her sight. Two more bullets slammed into her from her left. She never saw them fire. She dropped to her knee and quickly fired a barrage of spells that destroyed the two gunmen in front of her, then turned to her left and dropped two more just as she took another hit.

Her body was reeling now as the impact of each hit slammed against her body. The last gunman was less than five metres from her as she saw him aim his weapon directly at her head. She ducked just in time as the bullet slammed into the top of her shield and threw her backwards onto the ground. She recovered and rolled to her knees just as another bullet slammed into her shield. She was ready for this one, and without a thought fired a death curse that struck her antagonist square in the chest.

Ginny lay there on the ground, panting, barely able to move. She looked around saw that the remaining Death Eaters had Apparated away. She heard in the distance someone calling her name. She looked around and saw only broken and bleeding bodies. She spotted Billy Peeks a few meters in front of her. With difficulty, she made her way over to him. He was barely alive, but pulled her down to him and whispered his code word, "Scaramouch." "I know, Billy," she responded.

"With great difficulty, he again whispered to her, "Tell King they are at a deserted warehouse on Gerrard street. Tell him to get them, they are very dangerous." And with his last breath, Billy died in her arms.

Ginny heard her name being called again. This time it sounded like Hermione. But Hermione wasn't supposed to be here, she reminded herself. Then she spotted Ron laying in a pool of blood. She dragged herself over to him, fearful that he was dead. She could not feel a pulse, but he was breathing. He was still alive. She heard Hermione's voice again, this time realizing that she was calling on the radio. She picked it up and pushed the button. "Mione, are you there?"

"Ginny, what's going on?"

"Mione, It's the worst. Most everyone is dead or wounded. Both Harry and Ron are down. Tell King that the Death Eaters are hiding out in an old warehouse on Gerrard street. Billy told me. He said to have the Yard raid the place. They have guns."

"So many here are dead or wounded. I'm the only one left, Mione. I don't know what to do. We need healers now. Please send help Mione."

Ginny threw the radio down and looked around for Harry. She found him near a cove of trees, laying in a pool of blood. She raised his head and held him in her arms, rocking back and forth. "Please don't be dead, Dear God don't let him be dead."

She felt Harry's arm move to reach up to her face. "Gin, is that you?"

Ginny realized that she still had her balaclava covering her face. She tore it off and kissed Harry's lips. "Yes love. It's me."

Saying a silent prayer of thanks, she took Harry's head in her hands. "Hold on love, please don't die on me. Oh Harry, don't die. The healers will be here shortly. Hang on love, hang on."

"Gin!" Harry struggled to speak. "Gin, you've got to get away from here. They've got guns, Gin. They're going to kill us all."

Ginny held him close to her body. "No love, it's over. All the Death Eaters are dead. Were safe now. The Healers and Aurors will be here soon. Just hang on a bit more love. Please Harry, please."

"Can't breath Gin. Chest is on fire. I can't feel my legs. Where did those gunmen go?"

Just then Ginny heard the pops of the Healers and Aurors Apparating in. Two of the Aurors approached her with wands drawn. They recognized her as the mysterious stranger, and were taken aback when they realized who she was. "Your Ginny Weasley!" one of them said, greatly surprised.

Ignoring their shocked state, Ginny briefly told them what had happened. She informed them of the number of Death Eaters that may still be trapped under the rubble of the collapsed house. Then screamed at them to get a Healer to look after Harry and the other wounded.

As a Healer attended to Harry's injuries, Ginny started to feel weak and could feel herself starting to pass out. She kissed Harry saying "I have to go love. See you at St. Mungo's."

Afraid to Apparate in her present condition, Ginny activated her emergency port-key and returned to her garret hide-away.

Slamming hard onto the floor, Ginny struggled to remove her gear and get herself dressed. She headed down the stairs, falling to the floor from the last few steps. She struggled to crawl to the floo, but couldn't quite make it. Her body finally gave up, and she passed out cold a metre from her destination.

End Chapter fourteen


	15. Chapter 15

A Stranger Amongst Them

See disclaimer in chapter one.

Chapter Fifteen The aftermath.

Hermione and Kingsley Apparated to the scene of the battle. They were totally shocked at the devastation that lay before them. The healers had done what they could for the wounded, and had already transported them to St. Mungo's, and were preparing to transport the dead to the morgue. At least Harry and Ron are still alive thought Hermione.

She looked around for Ginny, and asked the Healers if they had seen her. No one could say for certain where she was. Hermione guessed that Ginny had probably returned home, and Apparated away to find her.

Hermione searched the house to no avail, and headed up to the garret. She found Ginny's shield, and stared, shocked, at the bullet holes. Seven bullets had ripped into shield, with powder burns around two of them. Turning the shield around, she saw that there were no exit holes. The shield worked, she thought. So where is she?

Hermione continued to search, finally finding Ginny unconscious in front of the floo. She tried to revive her, with no success. She struggled to support Ginny against her and stepped into the floo. "St. Mungo's emergency entrance!" she shouted.

A Healer quickly shunted Ginny away on a gurney while another Healer questioned Hermione. She could not give them any information about Ginny's injuries, explaining that she found her unconscious on the floor of her home.

Hermione paced back and forth in the waiting room. No one could give her any information about any of the injured, or even who was injured. She knew that Harry and her husband had been admitted, but with the number of emergency patients being treated, he place was in a state of pandemonium. Hermione was frantic. Finally, Kingsley walked into the waiting room and called to her.

"Mione, the healers have been trying to find you. Come with me."

Kingsley led her to another waiting room on the fifth floor surgical suite. Ginny's parents and several others in the family were already there. After appropriate greetings, Arthur sat her down and briefed her on Ron's condition. He had taken two bullets to the chest and abdomen and was still in surgery. He explained that Ron was critical, but was expected to pull through.

Harry had been shot in the chest, the bullet puncturing his lung causing it to collapse, but that he too would recover completely.

Ginny however was a complete mystery to them. The Healers said that she appeared to have been beaten severely about the chest and abdomen, suffering internal injuries to her liver, kidneys, and spleen. No one could explain how this happened. Hermione knew of course. The impact of the bullets had slammed her shield against her body like a Cricket bat hitting her full force. They hadn't considered this in their design, but neither had they considered being shot seven times at close range. The prognosis however was encouraging, and they expected her to be released in a few days.

With a worried look on his face, Kingsley approached Hermione. "Would you care to enlighten me, Hermione? Somehow I think you know more about Ginny's situation than you are admitting to."

"Yea King, I do. Let's go someplace and talk. Harry's place would be best."

Kingsley and Hermione sat at the conference table in Harry's house. Hermione prepared them tea, and they talked. Kingsley was totally shocked at the revelation that Ginny was their mysterious stranger. "I simply can not believe this," Kingsley stated. "She is only a little girl, barely of age."

"King, don't underestimate her. She is totally amazing. The extraordinary things she has done are beyond belief. Hold on a minute, I have something to show you."

Hermione retrieved Ginny's shield from the garret, and placed it on the table in front of Kingsley. "This is her shield, King. Examine it closely," Hermione said. "Notice the bullet holes."

"All of this was Ginny's idea," continued Hermione. "I helped her research and design the shield, but it was Ginny who used it. Granted, neither of us anticipated her having to face I don't know how many madmen with guns, but she never backed down. She saved us all King. She saved the lives of every one those Aurors out there. Every one of them would have been killed. They had no defense against the guns."

'I don't know the specifics of it King, but look at the shield. There are seven bullet holes in it, all taken at close range. And I heard that most of the gun wielding Death Eaters were killed by wizard spells. Do the math, King. Ginny must have taken out most of them herself. That's the only logical explanation."

"Simply unbelievable," expressed Kingsley. "Mione, do you think you could find Ginny's wand? She didn't have it with her when you brought her to the hospital. If I could examine it, it could clear up a lot of things."

Hermione thought for a minute. If Ginny had used unforgivables, she could be in trouble. Hermione also knew that Ginny was using one of Harry's untraceable wands.

"King, let's be honest here. Hypothetically, if Ginny used the killing curse, or did anything else that's illegal, I won't be a part of it. Her wand, or the wand she was using, will be mysteriously missing. Do we understand each other? I realize that you are the Minister of Magic, but I will go to Azkaban before I will do anything to endanger Ginny or be involved in implicating her in anything illegal."

"Mione, as Minister of Magic, I have full authority to grant Aurors and their designates permission to use whatever is necessary in critical life or death situations. And as I told you in our GAB meetings, I passed on that authority to Harry; so Ginny is protected from being charged with any of those activities. You understand?"

"Yes King. I'll go and get her wand. Have another cup of tea."

Kingsley examined Ginny's wand, and discovered that she had used the killing curse four times. They were the last twelve other curses cast. "Perfectly understandable and legal, Mione. Under the circumstances, I see no problems here. The subject will never be brought up, at least by me. And if it does, I will stand behind her and say that she was given permission as a member of the Auror teams. Are you comfortable with that?"

"Yes, thank you King. If that's all, Let's go back to St. Mungo's and check up on things. I am worried about my husband."

"I'm sure he will be ok Mione. Let's go."

End Chapter fifteen


	16. Chapter 16

A Stranger Amongst Them

See disclaimer in chapter one.

Chapter sixteen It all comes out

Hermione and Kingsley returned to St. Mungo's to find the Weasleys waiting for them. Arthur had just minutes before received the good news concerning Ron, Harry and Ginny.

"Glad your back, we've been waiting for you," spoke Arthur. "They just now returned Ron from surgery. His internal injuries were severe, but he pulled through nicely. He will be out for a few hours, but the Healers do not expect any complications. His recovery is progressing nicely and he should be released in about a week. They will let us know when we can see him."

"Harry's lung collapsed as a result of the bullet passing through the lung and out his back, so he did not require much surgery. They inflated his lung, and he has two tubes in his chest, but he should be able to go home in a few days. We can see him any time."

"The Healers still don't know what happened to Ginny, but they were able to repair all the internal damage, and have treated the surface bruises and contusions. I don't know what that means, but a Healer can explain it to you if need be. Anyway, she will be held overnight for observation and will be released tomorrow morning. We can see her now also."

"That's all we know at the moment. Oh, and the Healers asked us to keep visits to two people at a time. And King, there are six Aurors who sustained injuries. They are all ok, but the Healers will only discuss their cases with you or a designated representative of the ministry."

"Well, that's all good news," commented Kingsley. "I would like to see Ginny first, then Harry. Hermione, why don't you come with me."

As they entered Ginny's room, they found her pacing he floor. "Hello Ginny, how are you feeling?" asked Kingsley

"How the bloody hell do you think I'm feeling?"

Kingsley laughed. "Well it's good to see that you are back to being your normal calm and stoic self."

"So when are they going to let me out of this bloody hell hole?"

"Probably tomorrow Gin. And as soon as they do, you and I will have a long chat."

"So are you mad at me? Am I going to Azkaban.?" asked Ginny.

"No, quite the contrary. You are being praised by the whole wizarding world as a hero. You probably saved the lives of every Auror out there. I see an 'Order-of-Merlin' in this for you."

"Oh, well that's bloody great! I'll just add it to my collection. I'll be the most decorated hero ever to have been turned down by the Aurors."

"Calm down Gin," Hermione admonished. "King is on our side."

"Yes I am Gin. Now, how would you like to see Harry?"

In a much calmer state, Ginny replied, "I really need to see him now. I have been so worried, but they won't let me out of here."

"Well, he is in the next room across the hall. Take my hand and let's go."

Ginny practically dragged Kingsley across the hall and into Harry's room. He was sitting up and reading, looking slightly bedraggled. As soon as he saw Ginny enter the room, he held out his arms and shouted her name. Ginny launched herself onto the bed and into his arms. They snuggled on the bed, locked together lip-to-lip.

Kingsley commentated to no one in particular, "It looks like there're glad to see one another."

Attracted by Harry's yell, a Medi-nurse came bounding into the room. "What's going on here!" she said in her sternest voice. "Get off that bed miss, such behavior is simply unacceptable. This is a hospital after all."

"I think we can make an exception here, nurse," Kingsley said authoritatively."

"And who are you?" the nurse questioned.

"I am Kingsley Shacklebolt, Minister of Magic. And I think that we can make an exception here for these two. Don't you agree?"

The Medi-nurse hemmed and hawed, and embarrassingly agreed. Then left the room.

"Thanks King," they both said.

"Your welcome. Now don't forget Gin. I want to see you tomorrow. Let me know when you are released. If you prefer, I will come to you for our meeting."

Ginny nodded in agreement as Kingsley and Hermione left the room.

Ginny and Harry continued their snogging session for several minutes. Ginny finally broke away saying, "Harry, my love. I've been so worried about you. Are you really ok?"

"Yes love. And what about you? I overheard the Healers talking about what you did. Did you really kill twenty Death Eaters?"

Ginny laughed. "No, only eight of them I think."

"Wow! You know love, you really did save all of us. They would have killed every one of us if you had not been there. And what about the exploding house? Did you do that too? What ever possessed you to do that?"

"When I Apparated to the area in back of the house, I saw at lease twelve Death Eaters inside, waiting to join the fight. I couldn't let that happen, so I simply blasted the place to smithereens. It worked too. Only three escaped, and I was able to take them out right away."

"Well, for the record, there were fifteen Death Eaters in that house. Twelve of them were killed when the building collapsed. You are an amazing women, my love."

"Just for you love, just for you."

"So you'll have to tell me all about your shield some day. And how were you injured? You looked ok back there when I saw you. What happened?"

"Well, when we designed the shield, we didn't anticipate facing Death Eaters with guns. The shield stopped the bullets, but not the force of their impact. My shield took seven hits, and every one of them slammed the shield into my body with enough force to cause some internal damage to my body. But I'm ok now. And I just want to go home with you."

"You took SEVEN hits! Wow! I can't believe it. Any normal person would have Apparated out of there after the first hit. Fear alone would have freaked anyone. I know how I reacted when those bastards first started shooting at us. I just wanted to run away."

"Yea, but you didn't, did you."

"No. But I wanted to. My first reaction was to get my Aurors to safety. I had to stay and face them until the Aurors were out of danger."

"And that's why you're their leader, Harry. And Ron too. And poor Joe Gorton. He was blasted, killed instantly. I feel so sorry for him."

"Yea, me too. Have you heard anything about Ron?"

"Yea, he is out of surgery and will completely recover, but will be stuck here for about a week. Actually, he is very lucky. An inch or two right or left and he would have died."

"What about the others, Gin? They won't tell me anything. How many others died?"

"As far as I know, only Billy Peeks. He was shot in the back, apparently by a Death Eater. No body knows why. And six of your Aurors were hit, but they are ok. They are all here recovering."

"Hopefully, Gin, they will get these stupid tubes out of my chest soon. I really should go and see them. Maybe tomorrow. Stay with me tonight, Gin. If they try to kick you out, I'll pull rank and call King. Ok?"

"Ok, Harry. I'll be back soon. I need to use the loo, and then see my parents, but I'll be back. Didn't someone famous say that?" she laughed.

"Don't know. Hurry back. I'll be waiting. You can tell me all about that shield thing of yours. Ok."

End chapter sixteen


	17. Chapter 17

A Stranger Amongst Them

See disclaimer in chapter one.

Chapter seventeen The press.

Ginny was officially released the next morning, but refused to leave Harry's side. She stayed with him for the next two days. The Healers finally removed the drainage tubes from his chest, and he was released. Before leaving the hospital, Harry and Ginny visited with the others Aurors who had been wounded.

Meanwhile Ron regained consciousness, Hermione having stayed with him also. Ron was discharged four days later.

Kingsley had his post-traumatic-event interview with Ginny and Harry, separately of course. And scheduled interviews with Ron and the other Aurors.

When Kingsley interviewed Ginny, he asked about her using the killing curse. Ginny's explanation was that when she first used 'stupefy', it was so powerful that it literally split open the Death Eaters chests, killing them. She attributed this to the surge of Adrenalin through her body. This was an accepted fact, excess Adrenalin does increase the power of spells. However, her body was being weakened by the impact of the bullets striking her shield. At one point, her spell was not strong enough to disable the attacker, so she started using the death curse. "It was him or me." she said. And Kingsley agreed.

Kingsley also spoke privately to both Ginny and Harry, informing them that the official word is that he, Kingsley, was aware of Ginny's involvement from the start, and that she was acting in an official capacity. It was kept a secret from everyone except Harry to protect her and others who might be involved; Hermione for example.

Putting all the data together, Kingsley had a clear picture of the events that fateful evening, and drew up his official report. The final written report was forty-seven pages long. He presented it to the Wizengamot for their approval. A scaled down report of twelve pages would be presented to the press.

The press was in an uproar about the lack of information that had been given out to the public. Kingsley had reported the fact and outcome of the battle, but no specifics, saying that the investigation was still in progress.

Two weeks after the battle, Kingsley scheduled a press conference at the ministry for the following day, and distributed the official press release. On the dais were several senior Aurors, Harry, Ron, Ginny, Hermione, and others. The conference was attended by many of the ministries employees, and the presence of the complete Auror staff was mandatory. Also in attendance were members of the Wizengamot, and members of the wizard press, not only from Briton, but several foreign countries as well. It was the largest press conference ever given by the ministry.

As the Minister of Magic, Kingsley Shacklebolt officially opened the conference with a twenty minute speech where he outlined the changes that were planned in the next few years. Most importantly, he stressed the need for the wizarding world to stop turning their backs on Muggle technology, and upgrade all ministry departments, especially the Auror forces. His comments were met with mixed reactions, which was to be expected.

Next, he opened the floor for questions.

"Minister. Do you feel that it is wise to expose the wizarding public to the fact that your Aurors will soon be carrying military type weapons?"

"Absolutely. If we had done this sooner, then maybe what happened a few weeks ago would have been avoided. If terrorists know that we will fight them on equal terms or better, then they will think twice about trying to ambush us like they did. I also feel that the average wizard citizen will feel safer in their homes knowing that we have the resources to protect them and their children. Next question."

"Minister. You spoke of modernizing the ministry with Muggle electronic gadgets and things. It's well known that electric devices do not work in magical environments. So how do you propose to do this?"

"Actually, that's not true," commented Kingsley. "It's a myth that has been perpetrated by those in our world who abhor anything Muggle. I can show you many examples of Muggle electronics working quite well in magical venues. I have used a computer in my office for some time, and we have telephones and mobiles currently in use in the other Auror offices. Next."

"Minister. Who on your staff, or elsewhere in the ministry, has sufficient knowledge to implement this plan of yours?"

"Right here on the dais are two people who are computer and communications experts. They have already laid plans to upgrade our archaic systems of communications. Three weeks ago, we all used Muggle radio communication modules that allowed us to call for reinforcements instantly. And that is just one example. Next."

"Minister. How is all this going to be paid for?"

"Simply by modernizing we will see an increase of at a minimum sixty-five percent savings. That alone will save us enough to pay for most of what I am proposing. Next."

"Minister, if I may change the subject here. May I ask Mister Potter a question?"

"Certainly. You may ask anyone on the dais."

"Mister Potter. The reports I have read state that many of the, er, terrorists, if I may use that term, were killed outright. How do you explain that?"

"Sir, if you read the reports, then you must know that the terrorists were openly attacking us with guns blazing. Their obvious intent was to kill as many of us as they could as quickly as they could. Now under those dire circumstances, we had no choice but to retaliate with equal force and kill them. It was kill or be killed. Unless there is another option I have missed."

"Mister Potter, surely you could have attempted to negotiate with them."

"I can't believe you said that. Exactly what part of 'they are trying to kill us as quickly as possible' do you not understand? If some one points a gun at your head and starts to pull the trigger, how do propose one would start these negotiations you so blithely speak of? Next question."

"Miss Weasley. It is reported that you and Mrs. Weasley invented some sort of shield. Is the Mrs. Weasley referred to your mother?"

Ginny laughed. "No sir. She is my brother's wife, Hermione."

"Could you tell us where you came up with the idea of a shield? No one has ever used a shield before."

"Not true. I got the idea watching an old movie called Ivanhoe on the telly. And before you ask, yes, we have all kinds of electronic gadgets in our MAGICAL home. Anyway, It was one of those medieval tales of knights and jousting and sword fights. Watching it, I was fascinated with the idea of using such a shield while dueling. And it proved to be most useful. Hermione and I spent weeks researching it. And again before you ask, we paid for all the materials and testing expenses ourselves."

"Miss Weasley. It was reported that you were involved in the fight with the terrorists. Did you use your shield and did it protect you as expected?"

"I will answer that sir," interrupted Kingsley. "Miss Weasley did use her shield, and it performed better than anyone could have expected. During the fight, Miss Weasley's shield was struck at close range seven times. Seven bullets, each of which would have killed a elephant, were stopped by her shield. I think that speaks for it self."

"Miss Weasley displayed unbelievable courage in facing those mad-men while being repeatedly hit at close range. Most people, even those trained for combat, would have fled the scene after the first hit. But she never backed down, she stood her ground and faced them. Her actions saved the lives of every Auror there."

"Miss Weasley, it is rumoured that you single-handedly killed at lease thirty terrorists. Would you care to comment on that, on how that is possible?"

"Again, I will answer that sir," interrupted Kingsley. "The Ministries official policy is that such information is not released to the public."

"If I may add something Minister," Ginny interjected. "This is a whole new approach to defense, fighting against men armed with guns. It's not like dueling with wands where you dodge and parry, and look for an opening. You get one shot, hit or miss. If you miss, your dead. It's that simple. The whole fight only lasted about two minutes. Two minutes that caused more deaths than we have ever seen in that short a period of time. That's why it is so important to understand why we must be prepared."

"Miss Weasley, have you been trained for combat fighting, and if so, where were you trained? I see that you are not an Auror."

"Yes, I was trained by the best of the best while at Hogwarts, Auror Potter."

"Miss Weasley. I see that you are wearing an engagement ring. Would you tell us who your intended is?

"Certainly. I am proud to say that I am promised to Mister Potter."

"Well than, Auror Potter. Congratulations. But I must ask. Miss Weasley is well known for her fiery personality. Do you think that you are up to taming her any time soon?"

"Why the bloody hell would I ever want to do that? I love her just the way she is."

"Ok people," Kingsley interrupted with a laugh. "We seem to have strayed from tonight's subject, so we will call a halt to the evening. Thank you all and good night."

End Chapter seventeen


	18. Chapter 18

A Stranger Amongst Them

See disclaimer in chapter one.

Chapter Eighteen. Epilogue

The Wizard press had a field day with the story of Ginny's shield. The Daily Prophet ran stories for a week complete with pictures of Ginny and Hermione. They played up every aspect of Ginny's involvement in the gun battle, with of course some typical journalistic embellishment. The story of her single-handedly killing twenty terrorists increased with each telling. The latest news flash had the count up to thirty-five. They even showed a picture of the shield, complete with bullet holes, which now numbered twelve. The picture was a fake, as anyone familiar with the Prophet would expect. But none the less, she and her shield were fast becoming an icon in the wizarding world.

With her picture gracing the Prophet's front page so often, Ginny was fast becoming an idol with the younger people in the wizarding world. Some saying that she was now more famous than Harry Potter. Witch Weekly ran a month long series about her exploits, never mentioning the fact that she was engaged. The entire Weasley family had a great time with this, making jokes at Ginny's expense every chance they had.

The Muggle press and the telly newscasts also jumped on the story. A few changes had to be made of course. They presented Ginny as a member of an elite special forces division of Scotland Yard. And her shield was depicted as a great improvement over existing Muggle shields.

The foreign wizard press also ran their version of Ginny's story. And many foreign ministries sent envoys to interview Ginny and Hermione and asked for demonstrations of the shield's ability to successfully block so many spells, especially the unforgivables.

Ginny's shield proved to be a very valuable addition to the Aurors equipment arsenal,

not only in Britain, but with the Auror departments of many foreign countries. Ginny and Hermione had obtained an iron-clad patent on their shield, and quickly became millionaires as a result. Ginny donated a large chunk of her share to St. Mungo's to purchase much needed Muggle electronic diagnostic equipment with the proviso that the facilities be shared with Muggle hospitals. The remainder she donated to the ministry's Muggle relief fund.

Ginny was offered a non-combatant position with the Aurors, probably a 'face-saving' gesture by the ministry. But she didn't care. She quickly demonstrated her expertise with the shield, being the only wizard in England with actual combat experience. She was soon made an assistant director of Auror training. She was happy.

Harry and Ginny set their marriage date for the following spring, at the Burrow of course. Harry had inherited a large parcel of land in Godric's Hollow, about 360 acres of beautiful rolling hills and pastures. Before their marriage, Harry and Ginny built a magnificent town house on a hill overlooking their property. With eight bedroom suites, not including the master suite, the lovers were anticipating a large family of red-headed green-eyed children. And of course, a Quidditch Pitch was a given.

Hermione invested part of her share in several Muggle businesses. Typical of Hermione. She and Ron also purchased a tract of land adjacent to Harry's property, on which they too built a town house. Not as big and lavish as their neighbour's, but still very grand. Within a short time, Hermione and Ron were expecting their first child.

In the years that followed, both Harry and Ginny, and Ron and Hermione, increased the size of their families several times over. On any given day, the fields around the Potter-Weasley spread were dotted with red-heads and raven-haired children of all ages. The families and the children were very close. Being happy kids, they delighted in exchanging places with each others families. On any given night, only a family expert could tell if all the children in their beds were from that family, or the family across the way.

The End


End file.
